More Than a Hero
by LanaaLuthor
Summary: "To me you're more than just a hero, you're a superhero". Retelling of Smallville from season 4 up. CHLARK - how it should have happened on the show.
1. Chapter 1

**Description: **"To me you're more than just a hero, you're a superhero".

Retelling of Smallville from season 4 up. CHLARK - how it should have happened on the show.

**AN **I'm not sure if there are similar stories, but I can't not write this. I am completely obsessed with Chlark now and their potential, so this is my version of the show, starting from season 4.

**There is a video for this: **

youtube

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watch?v=DlWgX3zHS0s

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the whole link in my profile

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**Part 1**

Chloe was dead.

Chloe was dead.

She was _gone_.

It didn't matter how many times he would repeat those words, he still couldn't believe it.

He had spent his summer being trapped somewhere in outer space by Jor-El, being trained, stripped out of all that made him Clark Kent and transformed into Kal. Kal-El, Jor-El's son.

And during this time Chloe died.

When Clark first got his personality and memory back, he came back home with his mum as she managed to help him when they were in the caves.

He turned to her and asked about Chloe. He remembered that she was going to be a key witness in Lionel Luthor's trial and that this day was coming as it was almost September.

"Clark…" his mother started, but then stopped, didn't know how to tell him. "Clark, I think… I think you should sit down first," she finally finished and started making coffee. "Just sit and we can talk."

"No!" Clark said. "No, you'll tell me now! Mum, tell me where is Chloe!"

The look on his mother's face told him all he needed to know, but still, he needed to hear it out loud. Chloe couldn't just…

"Clark, son, I am sorry, I really am, but… the safe house she was put in… it blew up once she and her father walked through the front door."

"No!" Clark screamed. "NO! Tell me she's alright! Tell me she survived!"

The pain that exploded in his chest, reaching deep inside his heart, was worst than anything he had ever experienced. He could easily forget the moment he had ran away from home on red kryptonite, Lex betraying him, Lana leaving for Paris… None of that had any real meaning but Chloe.

And she was dead.

"I should've been there!" Clark screamed and his fist came in contact with the table.

The old piece of furniture cracked.

"Clark…" Martha started, frantically trying to think of something she could say or do to make her son feel better, but she failed. There was no words, she knew that better than anyone. When her husband, Jonathan, had been in a coma this summer with no hope of coming back, nothing anyone had told her mattered. Only Jonathan had woken up as soon as Clark had come back to their lives. Chloe would never come back.

"Clark, honey," Martha started gently again. "Your dad wants to talk to you. Come to the hospital with me. It may make you feel…"

Clark interrupted her, "No! It won't make me feel better, mum! Dad's gonna live! Chloe… Chloe is never… she's never coming back, is she?" He turned to his mum, his eyes full of tears, his powerful body shaking as he was so close to breaking.

"I'm sorry, sweety," was all Mrs. Kent could say.

"I should've known that Jor-El was planning on tricking me! I should've known and stopped him on time! I should've been there for Chloe! I should've saved her!"

"No, my dear, even you can't save everyone. You need to accept that."

"She meant so much to me and I never even told her… I… I need to go…"

"Clark….!" But it was too late. He was already gone, superspeeding somewhere.

Martha thought she knew to where and she decided to let him go. Some people needed time alone when dealing with lost.

* * *

Clark stopped on the Smallville Cemetery when he found the right grave.

He dropped to his knees in front of it as he read: _Chloe Sullivan. Beloved daughter. Faithful friend._

She was a faithful friend indeed, Clark thought with tears in his eyes. And he had never really told her how much she meant to him. Now she would never know…

To his surprise, he did not care about anything else but Chloe at the moment and there was nothing that could soothe his pain. Not Lex if he changed for good. Not Lana if she came back from Paris. Not his parents being alive and well.

Not that he didn't appreciate the people that were still there in his life, but he had just lost the one that might have become the most important.

He saw her smile in his memories. The green eyes. The hair that sparkled in the sunshine. She was his angel. She had always been and he had missed that.

He remembered how he had taken her to the spring formal and then abandoned her, because Lana had been in danger. He had genuinely cared and felt for Chloe and still wasn't sure what had happened that it all had ended as soon as it had started.

Chloe was the only one that believed in him unconditionally.

Now she would never write another article. She would never scold him. She would never push him to be a better person.

She was just gone.

Clark cried harder. He couldn't stop himself, didn't even know how to deal with this pain.

She meant so much to him and he had never even realized it.

"Hi, Smallville," he heard a familiar voice behind him.

Why did she have to come here now? Why? She already was a pain in the ass and now she was interrupting his…

Oh, she was Chloe's cousin. Lois had probably known Chloe longer than Clark, he realized, stealthily wiping his tears and then standing up.

"Lois, hi. I was just… leaving," he said, his voice unnaturally hoarse.

"I still can't believe she's gone," Lois told him. "She was more like a sister to me than a cousin, you know."

Clark had no words to say anymore. They wouldn't go through his tightened throat.

How could he just say goodbye now and come back to a normal life?

Except, his life was never normal to begin with. Chloe was the only one to make it all more bearable, to make him feel… human.

Suddenly, just as he turned around and was about to leave, an idea came to his mind.

He needed to see her. One last time. He didn't care about the state she was in now, he just needed to.

Or maybe… it was strange that after Lex had taken Chloe in his protection, he would just let her die. It didn't seem right. It didn't seem his style. There was a possibility that Lionel had gotten to her, outsmarting his son, but maybe… just maybe…

Clark used his XRay vision, silently praying he would not see Chloe's corpse.

And he didn't.

It was like a small flicker of hope growing bigger and bigger in his heart.

"Lois," he suddenly heard himself saying, his voice excited. "Lois, Chloe is not in her grave."

"What?"

* * *

He thought he would never have to see his face again, but for Chloe he would go to the end of the world. Hell, he would go to another universe if he had to.

"Lex, Chloe's still alive!" he told his ex friend. It still hurt seeing Lex and not been close to him anymore, but Lex had done it to himself. It was his fault. He should not have been spying on Clark all this time they had been friends.

"Clark, would you care to knock the next time?" Lex asked, exasperated, because he was in the middle of some presentation on a business meeting.

"Tell me where she is and I'll go," Clark said, unyielding.

Lex sighed heavily and waved to his business associates to leave them alone for a moment.

"Clark, I'm sorry, but that explosion took an entire acre. The reason that Chloe's casket is empty is simply because there was nothing left to bury," he explained.

"I don't believe it!" Clark knew Lex all too well by now to be fooled by his perfect actor skills and poker face or, sometimes, fake compassion. "You wouldn't just let her die"!

"I think you're overestimating me," Lex said calmly. "By the way, where have you been? I haven't seen you on her funeral. Couldn't you come back from your little family vacation for that? Or for you father, who spent three months in a hospital, fighting for his life?"

"Lex, this is not…" Clark started, but then he quitted. Why did he feel obligated to come up with an excuse?

"So I thought," Lex said casually. "Another secret."

"Save it, Lex," Clark said and left.

* * *

Clark would not give up so easily. He had a feeling and he usually wasn't wrong in those. Chloe was alive and he would prove it.

Only when he came back to the farm, there a car pulling on the driveway and… two women came out of it. One of them was Lois, for some reason all dirty and sweaty, and the other…

"Lana," Clark said in surprise.

As they both approached him, he realized he wasn't the only person that was close to Chloe and hadn't showed up at the funeral. Lana was the other one and, on the contrary to him, she did not have an excuse.

"Hello, Clark," Lana said awkwardly. She seemed not to know how to behave around him. She changed too. Clark thought. She was no longer wearing pink, now there was more black on her than ever.

"Oh, you two?!" Lois asked in her shrilly annoying voice. "Come on!"

"Lois, what happened to you?" Clark asked, because he didn't really know how to talk to Lana. He had used to love her, he thought, he had wanted to make it work with her so badly and now… now they seemed to be strangers.

"Long story, but… you were right. Chloe is not in her grave and I will find out where she is!"

"What…? Lois, but…" Clark started.

"Save it, Smallville! I'll find her! You're wanna help? Great! No? Stay out of my way!" She walked passed him. "I need to take a shower and then I'm going to check up that safe house!"

She left Clark with Lana alone.

"Clark, I'm… I'm sorry for what happened to Chloe," Lana finally spoke.

"She was your friend too," Clark noticed in surprisingly hard voice. "You lived with her and you didn't even come back for a funeral?" He didn't mean it to sound as a accusation, but it did.

"Clark, I… I figured…"

"There was no sense coming back from Paris when you barely got there?" he asked. "Save it, Lana."

"Clark… I came back now."

"Why?" He turned to her, now angry with her.

He wondered how he could have loved her once when he felt completely nothing now. Nothing worked on him anymore. She was pretty, alright, but she turned out to be not as loyal as he had thought she could be. He had never told her his secret and that was probably the reason why it hadn't worked up between them in the first place. Now he didn't even want to try.

"I… something called me back."

"Well, it certainly wasn't me," Clark said with a snort and left for the house. He had one thing to do now and that was to find out if Lex lied to him or not.

* * *

It was like a dream coming true to him.

All the leads… Sam Lane… the military… Chloe's nickname that was her favorite journalist…

It all led Clark and Lois straight to… Chloe herself.

It did not happen without Clark meeting Lex again, this time in the real safe house where Chloe had been transported after the first one had blown up. They were both too late. Chloe was already gone. Kidnapped by Lionel's man, who turned out to be a meteor infected.

But Clark made it. He made it just in the last moment. He saved her.

And now he saw here there, lying on the ground, her hands still tied up, her face dirty and swollen from tears. She was hugging her cousin, couldn't believe Lois was there and she found her too.

Finally, Lois let go of Chloe, helped her to her feet and cut the tape that was still binding her wrists. That was when Chloe's green eyes raised to Clark's blue ones.

"Clark!" she yelled, happy to see him. "Clark!"

He got to her in no time and swept her into his arms, never wanted to let her go ever again.

She was so precious to him. So tiny, but yet so strong. She fitted in his embrace so perfectly like she was meant to.

In that very moment Clark was exhilarated to have her back, to not have to say goodbye just yet. He was also confused, because of all that emotions and feelings running through him. He figured he would make sense out of them all one day. Today what mattered was that she was alive and well.

* * *

"I'm so sorry that I didn't let you know I was alive," Chloe was telling to both Clark and Lois before the trial. "I couldn't get in contact with you and I tried, believe me, I tried so hard. First Lex told me I couldn't. Then my uncle caught me snooping around his office and he definitely cut me off any phones and then I finally trusted them that I was not to contact anyone. It was when I got the apartment and the laptop. Still, I could only write under a penname."

"Chloe, we understand," Lois assured her. "It's ok. I'd rather have you alive now than you contacting me and dying because of it."

"Yes," Clark agreed. "Although I still can't trust Lex. Chloe, he was investigating me."

"I know, Clark, but I also know that he is still a good person deep down inside," Chloe said to his astonishment. "What? I befriended him, I admit, but I think he benefited from that. He promised me he would stop trying to get to know your secret."

"He… you… what?" Clark stammered and Lois laughed at him.

"I'm just asking you to give him a second chance," Chloe continued. "Just do it and see what happens. There's nothing to lose once Lionel's behind bars."

* * *

And Lionel did find himself behind bars. All thanks to Chloe.

Clark was waiting for her after the trial and then he saw her on the corridor, smiling to Lex and giving him a hug.

On that sight Clark felt something strange, like a pang of… jealousy? He thought in surprise. He was jealous about Chloe.

Only Chloe told him Lex and she were just friends, right?

"Why are you wearing such a weird expression?" He was woken up by Chloe's voice.

"What?" He turned to her. He must have been really gone for a while there in his mind.

"Come on, you should be happy! Lionel's in jail! I'm alive!"

"I am happy." Clark couldn't help but smile on seeing her so radiant and alive. "I'm just worrying about Lex and you being friends now."

"Oh, come on, I'll be fine and just trust me when I tell you, he is not that bad. He saved my life, didn't he?"

"Well…"

"Hey, guys. Just wanted to say goodbye." Lois suddenly materialized herself in front of them.

"Oh, gosh, I will miss you so much!" Clark said ironically.

"Oh, don't cry, Smallville." Lois punched him in the arm. "Auch! What are they feeding you on that farm?"

"Lois, I'll be missing you," Chloe told her and gave her a hug.

"Don't be a stranger, cus! And no more cryptic messages, ok? You know I won't be a reporter like you!"

"You never know when you can catch that bug," Chloe joked.

"Oh, no, I actually do know! Never will happen to me! Bye!"


	2. Chapter 2

**AN **So sorry for updating so late, but I have a lot of exams now, so naturally, studying must come first. It will get better soon, so I will be more frequent.

* * *

**Part 2**

Life was so unpredictable, Clark thought when he came back to school for the senior year.

Few years back he had imagined this time quite differently. He had believed he would be madly in love with Lana, going out with her for a long time, then finishing high school and marrying her.

He knew now how stupid it sounded. He knew it would never happen. The most important thing that always stood between them was his secret. As much as he wanted, he never could fully trust her.

And now… Now he felt like Lana was a stranger to him. He barely saw her, mostly in the Talon, and once he did, he could only mumble some words of greeting and walk pass her. It was awkward, but he didn't know what else he could do when obviously, something burnt out once and for all. Now he would see her more often, because they were all getting back to school, but still… he never felt more distant to her than he did now.

He still did not figure out what it was exactly that he felt for Chloe. It just hit him and left him dazed and confused. He thought he would figure out that too, eventually.

For now he seriously considered telling her his secret. She had proved him more than once that she was trustworthy. He was slightly worried by her new developed friendship with Lex, but he also knew Chloe more than anyone else. He knew she would never tell Lex what Clark would tell her in confidence.

Clark just wanted her to be a bigger part of his life than she had before. He wanted to be honest with her, to show her she was important to him. He had nearly lost her. He had believed her to be dead for some time and he never wanted to find himself in that position again.

Only… wouldn't telling her his secret endanger her more? Could she die one day because of him? Because she would try to protect him?

He shivered on the very thought of it and decided not to tell her just yet. The older he was getting, the more complicated world and life seemed to him.

Eventually, he decided to talk to his parents about it. He knew they always had a good advice for him.

"Clark, I know that Chloe out of all people deserves to know the truth about you, but… are you sure it's a good idea to tell her? She is a reporter after all," Jonathan voiced his opinion.

"I will never doubt Chloe," Clark said, very sure of himself. "The only thing that's holding me back is that by telling her I may put her in danger. I don't want her to be in the situation when she needs to hide ever again."

"I know your burden is much greater than any other man's, son," Jonathan admitted, "but you need to take risks in your life if you don't want to be alone."

"You didn't take it with Lex or Lana," Martha noticed, "because you felt deep down inside that they would either use you or not see you the same way again. If you can do this with Chloe, I would advise you to do so," she confessed. "It will be dangerous for the both of you, but I never want to see you being all alone in this world while we're gone." She took her husband's hand.

"I guess I will have to tell her eventually," Clark admitted, his eyes looking into the distance like he was imagining what future might be like and he didn't like it at all, "but I will wait a little. We were both gone the whole summer and I want us to be close again."

* * *

Clark signed up for a football team.

With this decision his father did not agree much, but Clark did it nevertheless. He wanted to spend that last year in high school as a normal teenager. He wanted to play for a team, he wanted to hung out with Chloe in the Torch, he wanted to maybe take her to prom, he wanted to be… just a normal guy. For once, he needed to forget about his powers, especially when they were getting so troubling. He tried not to hate them, he tried to appreciate that he could help so many people, but in the same time he knew that they were in danger in the first place, because of him. For example his parents, how many times he saved them both? Every single time because of his_ uniqueness._ His father would have never had a heart surgery if it had not been for Clark and mostly, Jor-El.

Also, while Clark decided to act like a normal teenager, he also postponed telling Chloe about his abilities. Right now he wanted to come back to what they had had and then, if it turned out he did have stronger feelings for her than he had thought once, he would tell her. He also needed to assess the whole situation with Lex. He didn't like Chloe befriending him.

And he didn't like Lex sponsoring his team even more. He knew it was because Lex wanted to buy him, to tell him that he wanted them to be friends again. Clark just didn't believe they could. Not after what Lex had done.

"I think you should give him a chance," Chloe said and shrugged. "I'm telling you, Clark, Lex was wonderful this summer. And he put his father to prison. What other proof that he isn't Lionel do you need?"

"He betrayed me."

"Yes, but we are all humans and we all make mistakes. Lex corrected his. Give him a chance. It won't hurt."

Clark didn't say anything to that, he just grabbed his backpack and turned to the exit.

"Wait, where are you going?" Chloe asked, confused. "You were supposed to help me in the Torch…"

"I… eh… I…" Clark stammered. "Chloe, I'm really sorry. I have practice and…"

"You've got to be kidding me! You said your training won't interfere with your work for the Torch!"

"Chloe, I'm really sorry, but today I really…" He felt awful. He had pictured himself this perfect last year in high school and again, it didn't work out the way he wanted. He really needed to show Chloe that he wanted to be close to her again, but he also needed to get to the training. He had a new coach who had already let the team know that they could not be late.

"Chloe, I will make it up to you! I promise!"

"I've heard that one before," Chloe said. "Fortunately for you, I'm going in that direction too."

"Really? Why? I never thought you'd be interested in football."

Chloe rolled her eyes, but barely stopped herself from smiling to him. He could tell by the corners of her lips that twitched. She tried hard to stay mad at him, but she couldn't. It was a good sign.

"If you must know, I was planning on going to the match to support you, Clark, but right now I need to land an interview with the new coach and you're gonna help me."

"Eh… help you?" Clark stammered again. He smelled trouble. He imagined himself asking the new coach to grant Chloe that interview and he sensed it would not go so smoothly.

* * *

That was a very weird day and in Smallville it meant one thing - trouble, Clark thought when he finally got back home. He had suddenly found himself on the field, instead of on the bench (coach Teague had told him he needed to earn himself a spot in the game first), because his teammate had decided to go shopping with his girlfriend instead of practicing.

It was, indeed, weird. And then when Teague had brushed Chloe off, telling her that maybe he would have time the next day to talk to her, she had suddenly decided she wanted to be a cheerleader.

To make the day even 'better', Clark had felt ill on the field like someone had had kryptonite on them.

As a result, he came back home feeling exhausted and drained. All he wanted now was to get to bed and sleep. Even superpowers were not enough sometimes. Not when there was kryptonite involved. He had recharged himself in the sun, but it had been already setting, so he wasn't one hundred percent now.

To his astonishment, someone was in his loft.

"Chloe?" he asked, shocked with seeing her blond curly hair, the only thing he recognized her by, because… she was wearing his jersey. _Only _his jersey.

"Clark!" she called his name, getting excited on seeing him and jumping on her seat.

"Chloe, are you alright? What happened to your clothes?" Clark asked while coming closer.

Had something happened to her? Had she spilled something on her clothes? Got dirty? That was the only reasonable explanation for Chloe wearing what she was wearing. She never was the type of a girl who would just do it to get him to…

No, Chloe would not. He knew Chloe. She never, in her right mind, would…

Only when he sat down next to her as she wanted, she immediately put her arms around his neck and straddled him.

"Wow… wow!" Clark exclaimed, jumping and she jumped along with him. "What the hell are you doing?"

He did not understand what she was aiming at. The Chloe he knew would never act like this. She would be too embarrassed. And he had never given her any reason to act this way.

"It's ok, Clark. I know you want this too… I can't wait… I just…" She didn't finish. She just… kissed him.

For a moment there, Clark was completely taken aback, so he did not stop her and then when he did feel her soft lips moving against his, something changed inside him.

His hands found themselves on her hips and he pulled her closer, kissing her back.

So he hadn't been wrong once he had seen her for the first time when he had come back this summer, when he and Lois had found her, he did have feelings for Chloe. He didn't know where they had come from. Maybe they had always been there, but he had been too blind to notice.

Suddenly, he got hot, so hot he felt like he would soon…

No, he had to have control over his powers. He would not set fire with his eyes, not when Chloe had no idea about what he could do and not when it could hurt her.

He took it one thing at a time. First, he managed to calm himself down, so he would not set the fire, but then… She kissed him more passionately and he felt her tongue sliding along his lower lip and she moaned, then grazed herself against him.

She grazed herself against him and he started getting hard.

And she wasn't herself. Something had been wrong with her since the football practice earlier.

"Chloe! Chloe! Stop!" Clark put his hands on her arms and pulled her away, then stood up and found himself on the other side of the room. "Chloe, what's wrong with you?"

"I'm fine. In fact, I've never been better…"

"No, there must be something wrong. You would never act like this."

She saddened.

"I knew it! I knew you would never feel the same for me! Admit it! You still want Lana! You've always wanted Lana!" she yelled and then… she just ran out of the barn, leaving him alone and bewildered.

He could just stand there with his eyes widely opened and then, when he finally managed to move, he followed her, so he was sure she didn't go to Lex's. Fortunately, she went home.

He did not ask for his jersey back. He needed to figure out what had made her act like this.

* * *

Love potions.

Of course. Put kryptonite into everything - make everything.

It wasn't a coincidence that Clark had got sick and one of the players had decided to go shopping with his girlfriend instead of practicing. Even the coach had started acting like a crazy man the next day.

Fortunately, Clark had got his hands on the love formula the girls from chem class had come up with and managed to reverse the process. The last one had not gone as planned, he had done it by accident, but the result was what was important.

The problem was over, but something changed between him and Chloe once and for all. And it would never be the same. They had crossed a line, even if she didn't exactly remember it.

He discovered he had feelings for her. He hadn't been wrong. He did have them. And he wanted more, he wanted to pursue that. He wanted to be more than friends with her. He wanted to trust her. To tell her everything. Only, he knew he would have to go slow. It all could be just too much for her, even if she was Chloe Sullivan.

After another training, she came to find him and they took a walk on the field.

"Clark," Chloe started, "I do not exactly remember what happened, but… I'm sorry. I must've thrown myself at you and I… I would never do that if…"

"I know, Chloe, you have nothing to apologize for," he assured her. "I understand."

"There's something else…" she started and stopped. He sensed she wasn't very comfortable with speaking now. "Clark, I know there will never be anything between us…" She seemed not to be sure how to finish that sentence. Should she make it into a question? Would that sound desperate? Or should she just make it a statement?

Clark didn't know what to say either. He knew he wanted to be more, but in the same time he felt confused. He didn't know how to tell her exactly what he felt and how not to hurt her by accident if things didn't go out as planned. He had had so much bad experience with Lana that he preferred not to risk it. Nothing was more precious to him than his friendship with Chloe.

It was true that he had gone to see Lex as she had advised him and he had given him one more chance, but there was a difference between Lex and her. On Chloe Clark could always count, she had never led him down, but Lex… that was a completely different story.

"Chloe," he finally spoke, looking into her beautiful green eyes. And he chickened out. "I need to deal with some issues now… but…"

"I get it," she cut in, "you don't have to say it. I accept it. I just want us to remain friends." She smiled nervously to him and he felt like a jerk.

"Chloe, the truth is there is something that I feel…" he started, but again, felt like it didn't sound right. "I just need some time to put it all together," he finished awkwardly.

Really?! He thought. That was your stupid answer?!

"It's ok," she repeated. "So, I heard you spoke to Lex last night…"


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

His lips were there, just inches apart from her own. She felt his breath on her skin and she leaned into a kiss, couldn't stop herself, couldn't think clearly even though deep down inside she knew it was a bad idea.

Then, completely out of the blue, Clark straightened himself and said, "Don't you wish?"

After that he just left her in the Torch, completely stunned and with no words.

It had taken her a few minutes to recover and when she finally managed to look around, there was no one there anymore.

Her heart was still pumping blood fast, her breathing accelerated, but right now it was more out of shame and embarrassment than out of emotions.

She felt mortified. Mortified and terrified. She could feel her face burning. She must be red all over. There were also tears in her eyes.

She just couldn't understand why Clark would do something like this to her. Why? It just didn't seem like him. She would never believe he was capable of it if she didn't live through it herself. What did he try to tell her? What did he want to accomplish? Why was he mocking her like that? The Clark she knew and loved would never make fun of her feelings. Friendship was more important to him.

She wish she could have all the answers to Clark Kent puzzle, but right now, she thought she could take no more. No more of that. She had her own dignity. It didn't matter how much it would hurt her, she would have to end this friendship. She would not be a door rag. Actually, they hadn't even got to the part in which she could call herself like that. They had got… nowhere.

It was just Chloe's luck, she thought and was sick of it.

She tried to be strong, but as she kept on packing her things into her bag the tears were flowing more and more copiously and then she was just crying and sobbing.

_Screw you, Clark Kent, _she thought, _screw you. I will not be treated this way. Goodbye._

* * *

"Chloe? Chloe!" she heard him calling her, but she did not look back. She couldn't. She would not speak to him. She might have been telling herself she was strong, but she wasn't sure it was true. She might start crying in front of him again and then what? She would just humiliate herself even more.

"Chloe!" He caught up with her and grabbed her arm to stop her. "Chloe, I've been…"

"Get your hands off me!" she yelled at him and freed herself from his grip.

He was standing there, his eyes widely opened like he was horrified by her behavior and did not understand why she would do this.

"Chloe, what…"

"Clark, just save it, ok?" she said. "I'm done trying to make this friendship work. I'm just… done!"

There was something weird in his eyes. It was confusion. It was bewilderment. He did not understand her behavior.

"Chloe, what happened? What did I do?" he asked.

"I can't believe you." She sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. "Clark, to be honest, I think you need help. And I mean…" she lowered her voice down, "psychological help."

"Chloe, what did I do?" he repeated the question.

"Oh, so now you have lapses of memory?" she asked, managing to get her wit back instead of bursting out crying. "How convenient!" she teased.

"Chloe, it's not like that," he said and looked around nervously, then he grabbed her arms again and gently pulled her in to the Torch office.

"Clark, I don't really want to be in here with you!" Chloe snapped at him. "I hate those games of yours and I mean it when I say that I won't be tolerating this anymore! This is over! Whatever twisted kind of a friendship did we have, it's over!"

"Chloe, it wasn't me!" Clark also raised his voice, because she couldn't seem to stop talking. "You have to believe me!"

"Then who was it then, hah?! A person who wore your skin? Clark, why would you do that? Why would you pretend to want to kiss me just to back out in the next moment?"

"Wait, he kissed you?!" Clark burst, now appalled and enraged.

"No, but it was close. What do you mean by _he_?" Chloe suddenly got interested. She had to admit that after every bad thing Clark had done, what had happened recently wasn't even in Clark's category of badness. It was a whole new level.

"It was Lionel Luthor," Clark said, looking at her seriously. "Chloe, I swear. He was in my body."

"You really need help, Clark. Even in here, in Smallville, this is just crazy." Chloe turned to the door and walked back into the corridor that was now empty. Everyone had already rushed to their classes and that meant she was extremely late.

"Chloe!"

"Get some help! I mean it!" she snapped at him again.

"God damn it!" Clark cursed and reached his decision. It was either lose Chloe forever or finally be honest with her and since he had already considered the honesty part, he decided it was time for the truth.

He speeded up and stopped right in front of her.

She jerked to a sudden stop, her eyes widely opened.

"How did you…?" she started and then looked back at the Torch door. She had managed to walk far already. "What…?"

Then Clark gently grabbed her arms again and… she suddenly found herself in the middle of a meadow, way beyond the school boarders.

"You're meteor infected," Chloe breathed out, completely taken aback. "I should've known!"

"No, I am not," Clark denied. "In fact, I brought you here, because it's time you find out the truth about me, Chloe."

"The truth about you? Is that why you told me to stop digging when I tried to find your adoptive parents? Not to mention that you were the only child gave to adoption founded by Lionel Luthor?"

"Yes, I didn't want you to find out the truth. I trust you, Chloe, I always have, but you are also a reporter and…"

"Clark, I wouldn't betray you."

"Well, can you blame me? I know you wouldn't, but a year ago you stroke a deal with Lionel and you were feeding him information about me."

"False information!" she tried to defend herself.

"I know, Chloe, but how long before he would do something to you to make you tell him? How long before he would kill you? If it wasn't for Lex, you'd be dead right now and I wouldn't have been able to live with it!"

"So you cared about me and you protected me like _this_?" Chloe asked. "Clark, I think if you trusted me with this secret of yours, it would be better for the both of us."

"I am not meteor infected," Clark said, tried of beating around the bush. "In fact, I am the cause of all of this. Chloe, you couldn't find my birth parents, because they aren't from around here. They're from there." Clark looked up into the sky. "I came in the meteor shower to Earth. Because of me it happened."

Chloe was watching him intently, the look on her face both shocked and mesmerized.

And then she breathed out, "Oh my god! So we do have beings from another galactics walking this Earth! Clark, this is so amazing!"

"Well, there's only me. Everyone else is dead. My parents sent me here to save me. The planet exploded shortly after my ship started."

"It must've been so lonely for you," Chloe said, just now realizing it. "So much pain… I really… admire you that you adjusted so well. I would never say that you weren't human, Clark…"

"It's all thanks to my parents. If it wasn't for them, who knows what would happen to me."

"You mean the Kents? Yes, they're wonderful. You won the lottery with them. So… how it happened? How you came into their family?"

"They found me on the field. I just came out of the space ship. My father loaded it on his truck and took me. My mother loved me instantly. She wanted a child and they couldn't have one. Dad told me Lionel had ran on the road, screaming for help for his son, Lex, and they helped him too. As a thank you, Lionel owed my dad a favor."

"So he staged that fake adoption thing…" Chloe finished after Clark. "Wasn't he suspicious?"

"My parents sold him a story of how I was an orphan and my biological parents died in the shower. No one ever came to claim me, so Lionel helped. Going through legal channels, even if I was from this Earth, it would take too long and would probably be impossible. I would grown up in foster homes before my parents would manage to get me."

"This is… so sad and so… beautiful," Chloe admitted. "Clark, I'm so proud of you."

"Proud?" Clark looked at her, surprised.

"You're not denying being there when people need you every single time, are you?" she teased him, smiling to him.

That was such a dear sight to him. To just see her smile, her happy eyes. She no longer hated him. And he felt so relieved that he told her the truth. He couldn't lose her. Not ever. Not her.

"Well, yeah… it was all me, but what can you do with those powers if not help?"

"I would expect nothing less from your parents than to teach you this, but… aren't they worried that something will happen to you?"

"Chloe, you don't know everything yet…" Clark started. "My powers… I may look like a human, but… my skin is practically impenetrable, even by bullets. In fact, I can run faster than a bullet."

"Would you feel anything if I hit you?" she asked, putting her hand gently to his stomach through his shirt.

Clark inhaled the air sharply. It was just an idle touch, but still, his breath quickened.

"No, but you would," he answered quickly, taking her hand away and locking it inside his. "If you hit me, you'd probably break your hand."

"Wow," she just exhaled and her eyes opened widely. "Any other cool abilities?"

"Well…" Clark shrugged, trying to seem idle with it, "it's just… superspeed, bulletproof, superhearing, XRay vision… those kind of things." He did it fast like reaping a bandage.

"Wait…" Chloe suddenly crossed her arms over her chest.

"Chloe, I can control this. I never look under people's clothes. It would be wrong."

"Of course, I forgot that you're not just every guy, you're different. You have morals… and…" She suddenly laughed. "It's funny when you say that you have XRay vision, because everyone is probably covering themselves, yet, you could easily see through my hand, couldn't you?"

Clark actually chuckled.

"Yeah, that's about right."

"I'm really proud of you. If that was anyone else, they would abuse those powers. If that was Lionel, even Lex, or anyone we know, they would use them to rule, not to help."

"Actually, once my powers got transferred into another kid because of the lightening that struck us both," Clark said. "You might remember that, he threw a car at a house."

"The hell I do! Wait… did you put all the meteor freaks into BelleReve? They always seemed to be mysteriously caught on time."

"Yeah, that was me."

"Cool. You can do so much good in this world, Clark. You're amazing. You save people and take zero credit for it. To me you're more than a hero, you're a superhero!" She suddenly exclaimed.

"Alright, but let's not put that line in one of your articles, ok?"

"I wouldn't do that to you. Your secret's safe with me. Always… but wait… that doesn't explain why you came over to me last night and tried to seduce me, so you could just turn me down."

"Well… that will take more explaining to do and I'm afraid we're extremely late for class."

"Screw it!" Chloe said. "I wouldn't be able to focus on Math anyway!"

"Alright then… when I told you that it was Lionel, I wasn't lying. There is a stone and it's transferred him into my body while I was thrown into his."

"Yuck, really?" Chloe cringed.

"And there's some stuff about Krypton you should know before I'll tell you this one…" Clark hesitated."Maybe you should start by explaining what is Krypton exactly?"

"It's gonna be a long day," Chloe said with a smile. "Maybe you should start by explaining what is Krypton exactly?"

Clark smiled broadly to her too.

Finally, he could be honest with her. The only problem was that he thought it would be too much for her to digest if he told her about his feelings for her too. For that there would come another time. First she needed to learn how to live with this secret of his and how to go on knowing the truth. On same level it would bring them closer and that was a promise.


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4**

He still couldn't understand what had happened exactly. He was always in perfect control, even in the field during the game. He would not have signed up for the team if he had thought that he could seriously injure someone.

And now it happened. He had bumped into a guy and fractured his bone.

Still, he did not understand how. How could he have just tripped?

"Clark, I hate to tell you this, but I told you so." Chloe joined him for lunch.

"Great. Maybe you can form a club with my parents," Clark said sarcastically. "They don't believe me either."

"Clark, I believe that you never wanted to hurt anyone and that you believed you would be able to control yourself, but let's face it. It's football. Your opponents will always be vicious and…"

"Chloe, I didn't hurt anyone deliberately! I tripped!" Clark stood up in desperation. "I never trip! My parents have known me since I was a child! I never trip!"

"Clark, wow… calm down…" Chloe's tone of voice changed. Now it was more caring. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to make your feel worse. I was just…"

"Well, but you did. What else were you going to say, Chloe? If I didn't injure anyone, you'd say that I have unfair advantage!"

"Well, that's true," she hated to admit it, but she had to. She needed to be honest with him. "Clark, if you liked, you could beat anyone in this world in any kind of sport you could choose. And this is not fair. I am sorry, but this is the brutal truth. I still think your destiny is much greater than this. Think of how many people…"

"I know, Chloe!" he interrupted her. "I just wanted to spend this last year in high school as a normal teenager. I wanted to play football, I wanted to go to a prom, study, do all those things normal students do in their senior year."

"Yes, but the problem is that you are and never will be normal," Chloe said, her voice unwavering, calm. "I know it's hard to accept, but it's the truth. I'm not trying to make you feel worse, Clark. I just want you to know that the responsible thing to do would be to just accept those powers and use them for god. You can't keep denying they don't exist."

Clark couldn't believe what he was hearing. He got what she was saying, but still, he had thought once that she would be on his side when the time came. He had thought she would understand why he needed that one year or normalcy. He had been wrong. She didn't understand. Chloe never really cared about life in high school, all she had been always dreaming about was to finally grow up, get out of school and get a job at the Daily Planet.

As much as he still felt for her, he didn't want to be around her right now.

"See you in class tomorrow," he just said, not yelling anymore, but he as well might have. She felt terrible. He spoke to her like to a person that had just let him down.

* * *

He went against his father the next day.

Clark felt terrible about it, but he had no choice. He had also had a talk with his mum. He had simply asked her if she remembered him tripping in the past. The answer was simple: _never_.

Martha Kent wasn't too kin on Clark staying in the team either, but she decided to let him solve this one on his own. She even told her husband that he should let Clark do what he thought was right. Jonathan was still angry at his son, but it wasn't like he could anything about his Clark's final decision.

As Clark stepped into the school cafeteria during the lunch break, his loneliness suddenly struck him. So what that he wanted to spend this last year as a normal student? The truth was he didn't enjoy eating his lunch in the company of his classmates or teammates. There was only one person he wanted to be with now and it was Chloe.

He turned on his heel and directed himself toward the Torch instead.

"Chloe? What happened?!" He suddenly was terrified, because his best friend - and more - was just sitting in her chair, looking into the distance, shaking a little. "Chloe!" Clark put his lunch on the desk and got to her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Chloe, what happened?! Chloe! Are you ok?!"

She finally looked at him and she just said, "You were right, Clark. You never trip."

"What?" He frowned. "What are you talking about? How did you figure it out?"

"I did something bad… I mean… it was for the article…" she started, trying to snap out of her previous trans. "Do you know this Luthor exchange program student? M… I can't even say it right… Mxyzptlk?" she started again. "Well, he is a bookmaker in this school and I wanted to write an article about it. He liked me and let me learn. I went to three games with him and he told me which team in his opinion would win. He was right every time, so I bet my money and started a college found."

"Oh god… did he steal from you? Is he blackmailing you?" Clark was even more scared now. Chloe was a smart girl, but she was also fearless and he knew she would take a journey to hell for a story. Literary.

"No, nothing like that. The money is mine… it's just… he wants me to bury the article now, but there's something worse, Clark. I know why you tripped."

"Why?" Clark repeated after her. He did not understand what one thing had to do with another.

"Mxyzptlk has powers. He can manipulate events, more precisely, he can manipulate people… he… he…" Chloe suddenly sobbed. "I mean he's hot and who wouldn't… but I… but he…"

Clark thought he had never before been so furious in his life. So furious he could crash that Mxyzptlk into dust. Literally. If he hurt Chloe… _his _Chloe…

"Chloe, what did he tell you to do?" he asked, even though he didn't really want to know. He was already starting feeling sick.

"He forced me to kiss him. That's all," Chloe said to his relief.

It was still bad that Mxyzptlk had forced Chloe to do anything, but a kiss wasn't as bad as… some other things Clark preferred not to think about.

"So he's meteor infected?"

"I don't think so… I think he comes from a tribe of people who were born with that power… I checked him on the Net… look…"

Chloe seemed to be herself again, but Clark was still on alert.

Nothing was important right now. Not a game, not his team or school. He just cared about her. And that would never change.

* * *

They thought they outsmarted hum, but they were wrong.

Clark decided to play in the game, even though Chloe and his parents didn't think it was a good idea. Only Chloe discovered a way that could jam Mxyzptlk's powers forever. He would never be able to use anyone else. He would never injure people and he would probably be send away by Lex back to the country he had come from.

Only Clark didn't anticipate that Mxyzptlk would actually try to kill Chloe.

Everything went smoothly. Everything until Chloe played the tape to destroy Mxyzptlk's abilities and he lost it.

"You either lose the game or she dies," he told Clark during the break. "I mean it, Kent. Lose the game or you'll never see your pretty blonde ever again." After having said that, he walked away toward the school.

Clark didn't know what he should do. Lose the game? Let his team down once they had named him a hero after his last victory?

Not that it was important to him now, but he didn't want to let anyone down. If he just quitted now, he could only imagine what that would do to his coach. Also, his parents weren't rich and they couldn't afford a good education for him in college, so a football scholarship was his only chance.

Only Chloe's life was much more important to him.

He decided to do it all. He, after all, could, right?

He played. And in the same time he began scanning the school walls in search for Chloe.

He finally found her, tied up as Mxyzptlk was just pressing a knife to her throat.

For all Clark knew, he could kill her anyway. Chloe already knew too much and she caused Mxyzptlk his ability.

There was no other choice but to run very fast.

Clark suddenly speeded off in the school direction, got to Chloe, knocked Mxyzptlk out and came back to the field.

And… no one noticed.

He was _that _fast.

Faster than a speeding bullet after all.

* * *

"So," Chloe appeared in the door leading to the Torch, "apparently, someone knocked Mxyzptlk out and saved my life. I didn't see anything though," she teased and came closer to Clark who was waiting for her inside. "And that someone would have to move so fast that a human eye couldn't notice. Do you happen to know anything about this?"

"Well, I was on the field, winning the game," Clark said and smiled to her.

"Of course you were," she agreed and winked at him. "I'm pretty impressed, you know? I didn't think you can be _that _fast."

"I had a pretty strong motivation. I just… _had _to make it," Clark said, his voice getting a little hoarse as he looked at her all alive and beaming. He didn't even want to think what he would do if she was gone. He wouldn't be able to bear it. Never.

"Thank you," she said and hugged him. "You saved me. Probably again… You need to tell me once about all those times I have no idea of."

Clark chuckled as he reciprocated the hug.

"Maybe one day I will."


	5. Chapter 5

**Part 5**

"You tell me to give Lex one more chance and then he does this and what I'm supposed to think?!" Clark got a little angry, but Chloe could not hold it against him. She understood. Clark had finally reached his hand to Lex and now, barely weeks since it happened, Lex had got himself arrested for alleged murder. He had been found in bed with a very dead woman and was just released on bail.

"Wait a minute," Chloe stopped him calmly. "Are you referring to the actual murder or those one night stands?" she made sure.

"Stands?" Clark asked her, emphasizing the s at the end. "As plural?"

"Well, yeah." Chloe shrugged and walked over to her computer to keep digging.

"Lex told me it was just one time thing," Clark said, "you know… something that never happens."

"Well, apparently Lex got scared of your strong moral code and colored the truth a little," Chloe answered idly.

"Chloe, you can't seriously defend him! Wait a minute…" Suddenly, Clark felt cold fear.  
What if she… What if Lex… Why Chloe would push so much for Clark to give Lex another chance? On the other hand, if she loved Lex then she would not just sit here and type idly, wouldn't she? She wasn't one of those women that were just patiently waiting for a man to acknowledge them again, while he was out there, scoring someone else every night. "Chloe… have you… have you and Lex…? The safe house…" Clark started, but those words just did not want to go through his throat, so he ended up stuttering.

Chloe, to his relief, burst out laughing.

"Me and Lex? Sleeping together? Please! We're just friends and it doesn't mean that I would automatically jump into his bed! Sure, he should know how to make a woman happy… oh, come on, Clark! Don't look at me like that! I would never be just another notch on Lex's bedpost! I would have to have feelings for him to do that, which I don't have! And I'm not defending him, because what he's doing to those poor women is clearly wrong, but I can't be all that judgmental either. Let's face it, he just repeats what he's learnt from his daddy dearest. Put yourself in his situation, you're a billionaire with daddy and mummy issues. You're alone and all your relationships and, mind you, marriages, are crumbling around you. Oh, and let's not forget that the last Mrs. Lex Luthor tried to kill him, what resulted in him being stranded on a deserted island. Clark, it's only natural that with such a money and popularity, Lex goes for what's easy."

Clark just stood there, watching Chloe, completely dumbfounded.

"What?" she asked. "It's not like I do that too. I'm just saying that this world isn't perfect and most important, men aren't perfect. They usually want to screw all the time, preferably diffident women until some day they come across the one and boom, they're settling down."

"I'm not like that," Clark just said.

"I know and that's why I… like you," Chloe quickly corrected and looked back at her computer screen, but Clark did notice and it actually made him happy.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe it has a lot to do with how your parents act. Just look at my dad."

"Your dad is a perfect one, just like mine," Chloe admitted, smiling brightly at Clark. "Well, I could've had a better mum, but I'm happy I at least have that much, because when I look at Lex… I feel sorry for him, Clark. What he's doing is so wrong, but I can't help but feel sorry for him. Maybe you could help him."

"Me?!"

"Well, he needs a friend. Preferably a male friend… oh, look at this… I managed to get my hands on the camera footage from that elevator Lex and his mystery woman ride in… oh… I feel dirty," she added as she saw the groping couple in the small box.

"Do we have to watch this?" Clark asked, a little embarrassed.

Chloe laughed.

"So noble," she told him. "Have you ever watched porn like any normal teenager? What? I'm kidding! And I love to see you squirm like this!"

"Very funny, but could we please come back to our little investigation?"

"Wait… did you see that?"

"Do I really want to know?" Clark asked, exasperated.

"Clark, I'm serious. When they go out of the elevator, this girl has a missing earring!"

"So? She must've lost it."

"Yeah, but I remember from the coroner report that the one who died had two!"

"So Lex was with two different women that night without even realizing it?" Clark asked. "Ok, you know what? This is just crazy! He wasn't that drunk!"

"Well, the one with the missing earring must've gone with him to his room and they had sex… then he fell asleep and the girl… maybe he really is innocent as he said he was?" Chloe asked Clark, looking at him. "Maybe the girl he slept with killed the girl he woke up with?"

"But what for?"

"That's a tough one to answer… but the important part is that we can still find the missing earring girl!"

"How?"

"Every diamond that is now sold has a special serial number. That prevents thieves from stealing it and selling on the black market. Come on!"

"To where?"

"The elevator!"

* * *

Clark felt like an idiot.

An idiot who suddenly got too hot and to overexcited as he was thrown by Chloe to the other side of the elevator. She wanted to reenact what Lex and the mystery woman had done to figure out when she had lost the earring.

Clark had XRayed the elevator before, but found nothing. He didn't see the point in looking further, but Chloe was stubborn as always.

"Would I be able to push you around like that if you didn't let me?" she suddenly asked. "You know, you're pretty huge and you have all those powers." Now she almost pressed her whole front body into his front and they were so close it was too much for Clark. He would either kiss her or go crazy.

He did none of those things, because the elevator door slid open and they saw a young woman, gaping at them in horrification. It got worse, she had two little children with her.

"Come on, kids. We'll take the stairs," she said quickly and took them away.

"But…" Chloe went after her. "We weren't doing anything… really…" Only it was all pointless. "Wait a minute…" She looked down at the slat between the elevator and the floor. "Clark, XRay this now!"

He did so, sighing heavily, so she would hear, but then he felt really stupid for doing so, because there was an actual earring down the shaft…

* * *

"So I guess that you and Lex are ok again?" Chloe asked Clark the next day.

Lex had been cleared of all charges. He would have been even if Clark and Chloe hadn't found the earring. Only then Clark wouldn't have gotten to the mansion in time to save Lex's life.

"I guess he'll think twice about sleeping with a stranger from now on." Clark winked at his blonde friend.

"All's well that ends well then." Chloe smiled at him.

"He asked me not to give up on him just yet, so I think we're on the right track. Maybe he can still be the person I used to know."

"I think he is, Clark," Chloe said. "Deep down inside he's still the same. You just need to get to him. Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?" He sat on the couch and looked at her, waiting.

"Have you ever considered telling Lex your secret?"

"To be honest, yes, but I'm glad I didn't. It's not that I don't… I didn't trust him," Clark corrected himself, because obviously he and Lex had trust issues now, "but I thought it wouldn't be safe for him."

"Especially with Lionel around?" Chloe guessed.

"Yeah. How many times Lionel has been eavesdropping on Lex's conversations? How many times has he been spying on him? Besides, there was a part of me that could never trust Lex completely. I wanted to, but I just couldn't."

"I understand, Clark. You trusted me just now and look how long we've been friends. Lex is a completely different story."

"He found out once, you know?" Clark confessed.

"What?" Chloe frowned. "Wait a minute… are you talking about the time he spent…"

"…in BelleReve? Yes," Clark confirmed. Chloe was clever as always. "He saw me using my powers. I stopped a car that was about to crash him. Morgan Edge was behind the wheel. Lex saw the whole thing and the next thing I knew he was being taken into BelleReve. He asked me to break him out, but…"

"You couldn't have done anything," Chloe said and sat right next to Clark on the couch, covering his hand with hers. "Clark, I mean it. If you'd broken him out, Lionel would've got closer to finding out about you."

"Eventually, I did go to break him out," Clark confessed, "but I was too late, Chloe. I regret this till this day. When Lex knew… the Lex I used to know… he was a really amazing friend."

"You still have me, remember?" Chloe asked him, because she wanted him to smile and to feel a little bit better. "And that will never change. No matter what will happen between you and Lex. My loyalty will always lie with you, not with him."

"Thank you, Chloe. I don't know what I would've done without you." Clark gave her a hug and then he stood up.

"Where are you going?" Chloe asked. The mood was broken and she felt bad about it.

"I'm sorry, I need to get home. I still have my choirs."

Chloe just shook her head with a smile.

"Superpowered alien and he still helps his parents. You're truly are something, Clark Kent."


	6. Chapter 6

**AN **I will not follow the canon exactly. Soon, I should start changing more significant things.

* * *

**Part 6**

"Lex!" Clark entered the lab, furious.

"Sorry, Mr. Luthor, he didn't listen…" a man, that came right after Clark, said as a excuse for Clark sneaking by him with no authorization.

"It's ok," Lex said to the man's great relief. "He can stay… Clark, I know what you're thinking, but I have this under control…"

"Control?!" Clark yelled. "Lex, whatever escaped your lab, it affected the entire Smallville population! Chloe's in hospital, fighting for her life because of you!"

Clark still could not rid of the image of Chloe running toward him as they had been in LuthorCorp facility this morning. She had been screaming like something had terrified her to death. Then she had simply collapsed into his arms and never woken up.

She wasn't the only victim though. Half of Smallville was already infected.

"Sir, we've just received information that the first victim died," one of laborants informed Lex.

"How long till the cure's ready?" Lex asked, glancing at the temperature counter.

"About five hours, sir, and even then we won't be able to know if it works."

"Clark, I am truly sorry for what happened. There was an explosion in my lab, but it was an accident," Lex turned to Clark with an explanation. "I understand your concern about Chloe, I really do. I just want you to know that we're doing everything we can to fix this."

"What were you doing down here, Lex?" Clark just asked. "A normal lab explosion would never affect the whole town like this."

"We were tasting drugs for the military." Lex answered. "Now, let me get back to my work, ok? This way we can produce the cure much faster."

Lex turned away from Clark and then an idea came to Clark's mind. The temperature counter. It was still not enough for the cure to be heated, but a little…

No one noticed when Clark used his heat vision and then the machine beeped, informing that it was done.

"So fast? That's impossible…" one of Lex's scientists came over to check it.

"If we're lucky, don't question it," Lex told him. "Give me that…"

"Mr. Luthor, you can't…"

It did not persuade Lex. He was already injecting himself the cure.

Suddenly, Clark got scared. Was Lex infected too? Even if, why would he risk his life like this?

"Lex!" he called his friend's name when Lex collapsed to the floor.

Clark managed to catch him before his head hit the hard ground.

"Lex?"

As mad as he was at him, he could not stand by and watch another friend collapsing, fighting for his life, possibly dying. Watching Chloe in that position was enough. Clark was also afraid for his parents. What if…

Then Lex opened his eyes.

"Clark?" he asked, being a little out of it.

"Lex, are you alright?" Clark made sure. "How are you feeling? Can you stand?"

"Wait… the cure… did it work?" Lex asked Clark like he should know.

Clark looked up at the scientist and he crouched by them to check Lex's pulse and temperature.

"You were lucky, Mr. Luthor. It worked. We can start redistribute the cure now."

"Thank God." Lex, with Clark's help, finally managed to stand up. "Clark, I promise you, Chloe will be fine in no time."

"I'm sorry I got so mad at you." Clark felt the urge to apologize. After all, Lex surprised him completely with testing the cure on himself even when it could have killed him. There was still some good in him, Chloe was right about that. But there was also something terribly wrong with him too. Why testing a military drug in the heart of Smallville?

"Just go to her, Clark. I want her to get better too," Lex said and gave Clark a small vial of the cure.

"Thank you."

* * *

"Chloe?!" As soon as Clark heard that she was awake and well, he burst into her hospital room. "Chloe, are you alright?!" He got to her and took her in his arms.

"Wow… yeah, Clark, I'm fine," she chuckled. "I'm fine. Stop strangling me." Even though she said that, she was grateful for this hug and she couldn't be more happy that he cared about her so much.

"I was so worried," he confessed when he finally let go off her and sat at the edge of her bed. "When I saw you screaming and then losing consciousness… Chloe, I never want to feel like that ever again." His hand on its own wandered up to her cheek to stroke it.

Chloe couldn't help but lean into Clark's touch.

"Well, I'm fine. I'm here. You won't get rid of me so easily," she joked, but it wasn't funny to him.

"They told me that the people that got exposed lived through their worst nightmares. Chloe, are you really alright?" Clark asked once again, just to make sure. He would sooner live ten times through his worst nightmare than let her do it once.

"Yeah," she said, but he could tell her expression changed. "It was… it was nothing…"

"You can talk to me if you want," he encouraged her.

"I know, but I'm afraid that once I say it out loud… it'll become the truth," she confessed.

"I don't understand…" he hesitated.

"Clark, remember when I told you that my mum is in a mental institution?" she asked.

"Yes," he admitted, taking her hand to give her some support.

"What she has can be hereditary and I'm… I'm just scared…" she said, her voice faltering like she was about to cry. "What I saw was myself. I saw myself crazy and my face… my lips… it was horrible Clark… and I couldn't move…" She started weeping silently.

"Oh, Chloe, I'm so sorry," he said and gently pulled her into another hug, then as they were close, he started stroking her back. "But I believe in you, Chloe. Your mind is the sharpest I know. You will not go insane."

"What if I do?" she asked into his ear and he could feel her shaking against him.

"I know you won't. And you need to know that I will always be by your side, no matter what."

She clang to him and after a few more seconds, she seemed to be calming down.

"Oh, sorry, am I interrupting something?" they heard a voice coming from the door. It belonged to Lex.

"No, no, you're not," Chloe said and quickly wiped out her tears.

"I can come back later…" Lex hesitated.

"It's fine," Chloe repeated and finally looked at him. Clark stood up.

Lex brought flowers and now put them on Chloe's bedside table.

"For you. I hope you feel better."

"Yes, thanks, Lex." Chloe managed to smile, but Clark noticed it was fake.

"Chloe, I don't know what to say. I am truly sorry for what happened in that lab."

"It's fine, Lex. You're forgiven. I heard what you did to find a cure and I appreciate it. You almost sacrificed your life for this town and I will not forget that."

Clark couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He had just shared a special moment with Chloe and it was broken.


	7. Chapter 7

**Part 7**

Full scholarship. It was like a dream coming true, but once it actually happened… he got to see the world beyond Smallville, he got to see MetU and… he needed to make a very difficult decision. He knew it would affect his future, but he had no choice. Chloe was right. She was always right. And sometimes Clark hated that, but he could not disagree with her on this one.

"How was it? Are you a Metropolis Shark already?" Chloe asked him when he came back and now was waiting for her in the Torch.

He loved that about her. Even though she did not think it was fair for him to have a full football scholarship, she still managed to respect his choices and be happy for him.

Well, now she would respect him for who he was because of what he was about to tell her.

"No, Chloe, I'm not," he answered according to the truth.

"What?" There was surprise evident in her voice. "Why not? You're the best!"

"That is exactly why. Chloe, I quitted. I couldn't do it. You were right, it wouldn't be fair for the rest of the team."

She was standing there for while, by the door, looking at him and then she walked over to him and gave him a hug.

"What's that for?" he asked, hugging her back. It felt so good to be able to hold her in his arms and he never wanted to let go.

"For doing the right thing. It must've been really hard for you, Clark. I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you." He was really touched. "And thank you for your support. You were amazing, Chloe, even when you thought I would not quit."

"That's what friends are for, right?" she asked when pulling away and looking up at him.

"Yeah…" he admitted, thinking how to turn this friendship into something more. Maybe he just had the perfect idea. "Chloe, listen… there's something I've been wanting to ask you…" Why it suddenly got so hard to ask her that? He knew she would say 'yes', didn't he?

"Yes, Clark?" she prompted, looking at him closely, trying to figure out what it was that he wanted to ask.

"So, I was thinking..." _Oh, just get over with it already, _he thought and asked, "Would you go to the prom with me?"

For a moment she was silent again, like she was processing those words.

"Chloe?" Clark finally asked, because he started to feel like an idiot.

"I'm fine." She shook her head. "I just… I just didn't expect it, I guess."

"Why? Is there someone…?" he started, but he really did not want to get a positive answer that there was another guy in Chloe's life.

"No," she said quickly, interrupting him and shaking her head energetically. "I would love to go with you, Clark."

"Really? That's fantastic!"

Well, that was a little too much excitement, he thought, but it was already too late to take that reaction back.

He figured she had got used to his powers, so maybe it was time for them to move forward. He cared about her more and more with every day, so why not ask her to the prom and then maybe kiss her. Maybe that could be a good start for them?

* * *

It could not be a good start for them, Clark realized when the prom turned into a disaster.

There was nothing wrong with Chloe. She was perfect. She looked perfect and was smiling to him all the time and they got the chance to dance.

Things started complicating, because one of the queen nominee had had a car accident earlier and become a ghost. A meteor infected ghost what meant that she could take possession of somebody else's body.

It happened in a blink.

Chloe and Clark, surprisingly, were chosen the queen and king of the prom.

Only when Chloe got on stage, she wasn't Chloe Sullivan anymore. She was Dawn Summers. And Clark could tell easily, because why Chloe would say that Dawn was the one who really deserved the title? And why Chloe would giggle so silly? She was the spitting imagine of Dawn. It was either a brilliant impersonation or… Dawn was possessing Chloe, because she was desperate to become the prom queen.

So much for Clark telling her now how he felt about her. Unless he felt for Dawn, what of course would be crazy.

He couldn't expose her on the stage or deal with her where there was so many people around, so he followed her when she left the room.

He found her in the basement, but then everything went blank when she actually jumped to his body.

The next thing he remembered was Chloe lying on the ground right next to him and his father standing over him with kryptonite in his hand.

"Dad?" Clark asked, shocked that his father would attack him.

"Clark?" Jonathan made sure and hid the kryptonite in the lead box.

"Clark, I'm sorry, but you were possessed. She's gone now. When I used the kryptonite on you, she tried to flee, but had nowhere to go and she just… disappeared. I guess she's really dead now."

"How could a person _kill herself _to be able to be young and beautiful forever?" Chloe asked when she raised herself from the ground. "Dawn was crazy. She could've woken up from that coma, but now…"

"Chloe, are you ok?" Clark made sure. "Did I… did I hurt you?"

"To be honest, Clark, I don't really remember," she admitted. "If you did, you hurt Dawn… or Dawn hurt me… god, one can get a headache from all of this…"

"You probably hit your head, that is why you're hurting. Come, I'll take you to a doctor." Clark put his arm around her to support her.

"I don't need a doctor, Clark. I'm fine!"

"Then you need rest."

"What a night! I was crowned a queen and I don't even remember it! I guess I was never meant to be one."

"That's just silly. You deserve to be a queen more than anyone else in this school," Clark told her and she blushed.

Jonathan discreetly left, so they could have some privacy.

"That's sweet, Clark."

"I mean it."

This night was supposed to be perfect and instead, they got the usual. Meteor infected and bizarre.

Clark decided to talk to Chloe some other time, because right now nothing about this was romantic.


	8. Chapter 8

**Par 8**

Sometimes Clark doubted the weird things that were happening around Smallville would ever stop.

And then he didn't even think of it, because… he didn't even know who he was. His memory was wiped up completely.

"Clark?! Clark?!" a pretty blonde ran to him and crouched by his side, because he was lying on the road. "Clark, what happened?"

"A guy… car… I… I don't know," Clark stammered, looking at her in such a strange way that she started worrying about him even more.

"Well, then why didn't you go after him?" she asked as he finally heaved himself up from the ground.

"How? He was driving a car," Clark answered and earned another worried look from Chloe. "Who are you, again?"

"Oh, boy," Chloe said under her nose. "What happened to you?"

"I don't know. I don't even know who I am!" he raised his voice, suddenly being a little scared. Why couldn't he remember _anything_? "It's all... just blank."

"Alright, ok, just breath, it'll be fine," Chloe said, but it looked like she wanted to comfort him as well as herself. "This must be reversible. It just must be."

"But what?!" Clark got impatient.

"The guy who did this to you must've been a meteor infected."

"A what?!"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "This is gonna be a very long day…"

* * *

Few hours later, after a small investigation and a few accidents - involving Clark running off and losing control over his speed - they arrived at the Talon.

"I need some caffeine," Chloe sighed heavily.

It was terrible what had happened to her best friend, but on the other hand, Chloe was really happy to be able to show Clark that he could really trust her and teach him about his own powers. She couldn't forget the look on his face when he had bent that metal bar.

She just noticed Lana and her exhilaration was gone. Of course, Clark would soon spot the pretty brunette, because he had been spotting her everywhere, even in the largest crowds in the past. Although recently, he had not been talking about Lana at all, but once he had been so in love with her that it could not just go away, could it?

"Look, do you recognize her?" Chloe asked Clark when pointing him in Lana's direction. As much as it pained her, maybe seeing Lana would trigger Clark's memory? Especially when he had had strong feelings toward her. Chloe didn't know if that was still the case, she was kind of afraid to ask him.

"Why? Is she someone special?" Clark asked like nothing happened.

Chloe was baffled.

"Well… she's… or was… I'm not really sure… the love of your life?" she prompted, looking at his face closely.

Clark frowned like he tried to remember something, but still, there was nothing there.

"Really? It doesn't feel like it." He shrugged. "I thought… I thought there was something between us…" He suddenly turned to Chloe and she lost her breath.

They looked each other in the eye and then she saw Clark's face getting closer. He clearly wanted to kiss her. And there was nothing she wanted more, but…

"Wait!" She stopped him, pressing her hand to his chest.

"What's wrong? Did I get the wrong impression? I'm sorry if I… I'm just so confused when I can't remember anything…" he stammered, clearly embarrassed. "Are you dating someone?"

"No," Chloe managed to answer that last question. "It's just… you're right, you don't have your memories and you are confused, so let's just be friends for both our sakes. At least until you'll get that memories back, ok?"

"Alright," he agreed. "So we need to look for that Kevin guy."

"Right."

* * *

Another typical day in Smallville. Memory wipe? It shouldn't be surprising. Danger? Chloe met it every day.

And now she was being held in Summerholt. A machine that would soon erase all her memories turned on.

Only she did not want to lose her memories. They were too precious to her. Even if some were painful, they made her who she was. She wouldn't get rid of the pain, because that would mean getting rid of everything else.

Clark leaving her on the dance floor three years ago to save Lana.

Only before that they had had been having so much fun. A little more luck and he would have kissed her that day…

She didn't want to give that up. And the decision wasn't even hers.

Tears welled up in her eyes. Clark was stripped of his memories already, so there was no one to save her. He might have powers, but he didn't remember how to use them properly.

Other memories started appearing in her head and the machine came to life.

Chloe closed her eyes and her last thought was… _Clark, I…_

Suddenly, she felt a shadow over her face and everything stopped.

She opened her eyes. It was like she wished him there, like he materialized right there for her. Maybe he did.

"Clark…" she said, her voice strained, seemed to be a whisper.

"Chloe, thank god!" he said and helped her get off the special chair.

He swept her into his arms immediately and she finally felt safe, she felt like she was home, she was where she was supposed to be, where she belonged.

"I was so afraid I might be too late," Clark spoke straight into her ear.

"You remember," she noticed, couldn't stop crying.

"I do. I don't know who I could've ever forgotten you, Chloe."

* * *

It wasn't even the end of the week when they met another anomaly.

Clark was driving Chloe home after she had been working late in the Torch and they found a… baby in the crater.

"Clark, what if that baby came here the same way you did?" Chloe asked him when holding the small man. "How else can you explain this? How is it possible for a mother to leave her freshly born son here all alone?"

He was looking into her eyes, those sad green eyes. It was true, it was inhuman to leave a child on the road, in cold, without anyone to take care of it. To leave a child to simply die.

But he could not lie to her. He knew it was a human child. There was no space ship. There was no meteor shower indicating that the child had come from out of space. Most importantly, Clark could hear a human heart beating clearly. A very scared heart.

* * *

It got even worse than a mother abandoning her child.

Chloe had done her research and come up with a conclusion. The mother had been meteor infected and the father had fled once she had died, literally stopped existing to have that child. As that wasn't enough, the child seemed to be aging fast and even Lex Luthor couldn't come up with a cure on time.

Martha Kent was sitting in the kitchen, watching Clark and Chloe with that little boy. Such a wonder and that wonder would be no longer in a day, maybe even less. World wasn't fair. Life wasn't fair, but there was nothing people could do about it. They could only enjoy the good moments while they lasted.

Chloe and Clark with that boy looked like a real family and there was so much feeling among them that Martha stared at it like it was a picture. For the first time she also understood something else.

"When will you tell her?" she asked when Clark came over to her, leaving Chloe playing with the kid.

"Tell her what?" he asked his mum.

"That you love her, son." Martha couldn't help but smile. "Yes, I can see it. It's all over your face. And if I may, it's all over her face too."

"Mum, it's complicated. I don't want to hurt her again. I need to be careful this time."

"I understand the hurting part, but Clark, you're a grown up now. You both are. I think you've learnt a lot since the last time you tried to date Chloe."

"Maybe you're right. Actually, I've been trying to tell her a couple of times, but there was always something interfering."

"When the time's right, there'll be nothing to stop you," Martha assured him. "Just wait."

So he did waited, but he couldn't tell Chloe when Evan actually died. He could only hold her tight in his arms when she cried.

That was the first time Clark thought maybe he could be a good father one day and Chloe could be a great mother, but he was pretty sure that he could not have children. After all, even if he looked like human, he wasn't one, was he?


	9. Chapter 9

**Part 9**

It wasn't like Chloe at all, Clark thought when standing in the already abandoned school corridor.

Everyone had picked up their graduation suits. Everyone except Chloe and Lana.

It was suspicious. Chloe would never miss such an occasion, especially when being the editor of the school paper. Clark knew well that she was writing a series of articles about the graduation.

Lana? He didn't really care that she hadn't picked up her suit. She had been dating an older guy recently, a guy that had followed her from France here, to Smallville, so maybe she felt she was more grown up now and didn't need to show up at her own graduation…

When Clark started to look for Chloe, instead of her he found… Lois.

"Lois?" he asked in surprise when seeing her in the Torch. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm here for my little cous big day! Obviously!" she huffed as soon as she noticed it was him. "Any idea where she might be?"

"No, I was just…" Clark started.

"Seriously?" Lois interrupted him. "I thought you were practically inseparable!"

"Well…"

"Never mind! I'll look for her myself!" And Lois strode off the Torch.

"Great," Clark said under his nose. He wasn't happy to see Chloe's obnoxious cousin no even a bit.

* * *

In the end Clark couldn't avoid teaming up with Lois to find Chloe.

As it turned out, some maniac, who had no perspectives for his future, had built another school, in which he imprisoned Chloe, Lana and a bunch of other students. He was meteor infected with the power to turn people into statues.

When Clark saw Chloe, he was close to losing it. There she was. Frozen. Turned into stone or whatever that substance was and he had never managed to tell her what he really felt about her. For all he knew, she might have still suspected he had feelings for Lana.

He found Lana too, but passed by her. He couldn't do anything anyway. He just needed to find the guy who had done it all and maybe, just maybe, he would be able to reverse the process.

He found him when he was using his powers on Lois. Clark managed to catch her frozen statute of a body just in the last moment before it shattered on the floor. Chloe would be so hurt if something happened to her cousin and even if Clark found Lois annoying beyond belief, he saved everyone he could.

Unfortunately, Clark wasn't able to save one person, the instigator. When he tried to use his powers on Clark, it left Clark unaffected, killing the other one on the spot.

Once the meteor infected was dead, everyone started waking up.

"Smallville, what the heck happened to me?!" he heard an annoyed scream coming from Lois, but he ignored her, heading to the Torch replica, heading to the place he had seen Chloe's statue.

"Chloe?!" he called her name as he burst through the door.

She was there with Lana.

"Clark?" She just turned to him as she heard her name. "Clark, what…?" she began her question, but didn't finish it as suddenly she was swept into Clark's arms.

"I thought I lost you," he whispered into her ear, hugging her tight, never wanting to let her go, so she would not be put in danger ever again.

"Clark, I need to breathe, you know," Chloe chuckled happily, what actually indicated that she enjoyed that treatment.

"Ehm… hate to break it to you, guys, but we should call the police and get the hell out of here, like now," they heard Lois's voice coming from the door.

Chloe pulled away from Clark and turned to her cousin to hug her too.

"Lois, I'm so happy you came!"

And that was how, once again, the moment between Clark and Chloe was broken and he started to be really angry about it. He decided that waiting for the right time would keep him waiting forever.

* * *

"Chloe, can I talk to you?" Clark came over to her once he saw she finished giving the police her statement.

"Sure, what's up?" she asked him as they walked away from the police car. "I forgot to thank you for saving my life. Again," she added. "And it must've been pretty hard for you to have Lois around and your powers."

"You have no idea," he agreed. "But this is not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Then I'm all ears." Chloe smiled to him brightly.

They stopped and just now just stood in front of each other.

Suddenly, Clark couldn't say anything. She was so beautiful when smiling to him like that. She was alive and healthy, once again thanks to him.

He was making an idiot out of himself right now, he could feel it, but still, he couldn't figure out where to start.

"Well?" she prompted. "What is it?"

He decided that action spoke more than words, so he put his hands on her shoulder and brought her closer to him for a kiss.

She stilled, completely taken aback when his lips met hers, but then she kissed him back and before they knew it, Chloe put her arms around Clark's neck and raised on her tiptoes to kiss him harder. He lowered himself a little and his hands slid down to her waist where they kept hold on her.

"What was that for?" she asked a little breathlessly when they finally pulled away from each other.

"I've wanted to do this for some time now, but there was always something getting in the way," Clark finally spoke. "Chloe, you have no idea what you really mean to me."

"What are you saying?" she asked again, like she couldn't believe him. She had always wanted Clark, but she had thought he would never want her back. What could have changed now?

"I have feelings for you. Very strong feelings," he confessed, feeling himself blushing. His heart started beating very fast now and he was afraid she could hear it. What if she said she didn't feel for him anymore?

"What about Lana?" she asked instead.

That Clark did not expect.

"What about Lana?" he parroted.

"I thought you still…"

"It was finished before she even came back from Paris," Clark answered according to the truth. "You have nothing to be worry about when it comes to Lana. She is a stranger to me now, Chloe. All I want is… you."

She just stood there, looking at him like he was a ghost. Then she suddenly smiled like it finally got to her.

"You have no idea how happy it makes me."

"Does it mean… you feel… the same way?" Clark asked, scared again, hence the stammering.

"Yes, Clark Kent, I do," she assured him and smiled brightly at him. "Now, kiss me again, will you?"

He reciprocated the smile and gladly obeyed her wish.

* * *

"Lex?" Lana whispered as she saw him standing in the door. She was shaking as she had no idea what had just happened. All she remembered was Genevieve Teague attracting her and then… she had just blacked out. When she had come to, Genevieve had been dead and Lex had been standing in the door.

There was only one explanation for that. Lana had been possessed once again and this time Isabelle had finally managed to kill her ancient enemy.

"Lex, help me, please…" Lana asked him.

She didn't know what to do. She saw prison bars in her mind and her being locked in there for the rest of her life. How would she explain to the police that a witch possessed her? A witch who had been dead for centuries?

* * *

"This can only happen in this freaking town!" Lois complained as she walked beside Clark and Chloe.

The graduation ceremony had been interrupted. Another meteor showed was on its way toward Smallville.

"I don't know if I should be scared or fascinated," Chloe admitted. "A second meteor shower? Striking the exact same place that it did ten years ago? It's like… it's like it's not a coincidence…" Chloe suddenly turned to Clark and he knew what she was trying to tell him with her eyes. The last time the meteor shower also hadn't stroke by an accident, Clark had come down with it. What if this time…

"Lois, why don't you go to your car and drive out of the city?" Chloe suggested.

"What? No! I want to help!"

"Lana Lang was the only person who didn't show up at the graduation," Chloe told Lois seriously. "Maybe she found out faster than we did and she already skipped town, but maybe she's still out here somewhere. I need you to drive out of Smallville and look for her on the way, then look for her beyond the town borders, can you do this for me?"

"Sure." Lois shrugged. "'ll be glad to get out of this circus. Just, Chlo, come with me."

"I can't. Not yet. We need to look for Lana in here, but I'll follow you as soon as I can, ok?"

"You better!"

Lois ran to her car and drove away.

"Clark, what this may be? Are there any aliens on their way?" Chloe asked him once they were left alone.

"I don't know, Chloe, but for our sake, I hope not. Not everyone was brought up on Earth like I did. Not everyone will be friendly."

Chloe bit her lower lip.

"Hey," Clark cupped her face, "we'll be fine and you should've gone with Lois… Are you really going to look for Lana?"

Chloe shook her head.

"It was just an excuse to get Lois out of the way… Clark, what if this have something to do with the stones you were telling me about the other day?"

"I'm not interested in putting them back together," Clark answered her quickly.

"I know, but Lex or Lionel might."

"Since when do you doubt Lex?"

"He doesn't know your secret, Clark, and he doesn't even know the stones are connected to you. He thinks they're dangerous. Every person when holding something alien would think that way."

"So you want me to go to him and get the last stone? How do I know he even has it?"

"Who else? If not Lex, then his father."

"What about you?"

"I'll drive out of Smallville with your parents, we'll be safe."

"You need to!"

* * *

"I'm sorry I'm burdening you with this, Lex," Lana told him when they walked toward the chopper that was supposed to take her out of Smallville. "I wish I could go to someone for help, but… I seem to have no one those days."

"It's alright," Lex assured her once they got to the chopper. He turned to her and cupped her face. "I will always be here for you, Lana. You can trust me," he told her when looking her deep in the eye.

* * *

"Clark!" Chloe screamed his name once she got into the mansion. "Clark, oh my god!"

She knew she shouldn't leave Smallville without checking up on him. He could yell at her all he wanted later, but now she was the only one that could save his life.

She ran to his motionless body. Of course, Lex stashed a meteor rock in his secret vault along with the element. He had no way of knowing that it could hurt Clark, he must have just collected all the alien things together.

"Clark, are you alright?" Chloe asked him.

He didn't move.

"Damn it! Clark, wake up!" she yelled and then grabbed his hands, doing everything she could to drag him away from the vault.

The element was lying on the floor, so Clark must have gotten to him before he had noticed the kryptonite.

Chloe heard footsteps in the hall and she jerked to an upright position, terrified. What if Lex walked in here and saw Clark and…

But once Lex appeared in the door, Chloe felt a waft of air and Clark was gone. She had managed to pull him away from the kryptonite's range, thank goodness.

"What are you doing here?!" Lex asked her in a very angry tone. "Why is my vault opened?!" He walked over to it. "Where's my stone?!" He turned to Chloe with an accusatory look in his eyes.

"I don't… I don't know," she stammered, "I just came here to look for Lana."

"Lana?" Lex asked, rolling his eyes. "Do you think I'm stupid, Chloe?!" he kept on screaming. "You're looking for Lana?! Here?! When she doesn't have any friends?! No one to turn to?!"

"Lex, what's happening to you? Calm down…"

"Calm down?! Someone just stole from me! And there's a meteor shower on its way!"

"Well, then I suggest we go look for a place to hide," Chloe said, back to her usual self. She would not be intimidated by Lex. She knew him all too well to let him scare her like that.

"Oh no, we're going to the caves!"

"What? Lex, are you crazy?! That's the most dangerous…" she started, but he already grabbed her arm and jerked her toward the door.

* * *

"What is it that you're not telling me, Chloe?!" Lex roared once they were in the caves and he spread his arms. "Tell me! What are you hiding?!"

"Lex, I'm your friend, not your enemy!"

"Really? Then why ever since you came back to school you've been so distant? Why have you changed so much? You're not honest with me anymore and I can see it! It's Clark, isn't it?!"

"What does Clark have to do with it?" Chloe asked, doing her best to pretend to be in the dark.

"Oh, he has everything to do with it!"

"Lex, why don't you just trust me? I was really looking for Lana."

"How convenient," Lex mocked her. "You ignore her for the entire school year, leave her with no friends and no one to talk to just to run to her when you think the world's ending? Am I supposed to buy it? Was that supposed to be some last moment reconciliation or something?!"

"You care about Lana a lot, don't you?" Chloe suddenly realized.

"Someone had to be there for her after her boyfriend used her and abandoned her!"

"Clark was never…"

"I'm talking about Jason who was just using her to get to something, but I will not violate Lana's trust like you did mine, Chloe. I will not tell you anything more."

"Lex, listen to yourself!" Chloe yelled. "You sound like crazy!"

In that very moment the first meteor fell down and the whole cave shook.

Then some light appeared in the previously darkened end of the cave.

Chloe knew it had to do something with Clark, so she used the moment of Lex's distraction and pushed him toward the wall. He lost his consciousness.

"I'm sorry, Lex, but when it comes to Clark… the choice is simple for me," she whispered and walked above Lex's motionless body to get to the light.

* * *

**AN **I think that from now on I should put more original scenes and ideas in here. There is one coming soon and it will shock you : )


	10. Chapter 10

**AN **Check out my new Chlex fanfic - _Come Back to Me_

* * *

**Part 10**

First thing that struck Chloe was that it was so cold that her teeth started chattering almost in instance.

She felt something wet beneath her and she opened her eyes. All she saw was whiteness and it took her a moment to realize she was looking at snow. In fact, she was lying in snow.

How come there was snow when there was summer? She frowned and got to her feet.

She just found an explanation. She wasn't in Kansas anymore. She was… on a North Pole?

_Just calm down, Chloe, calm down and don't you dare panic! _She thought, then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The frozen air invaded her lungs, causing her pain, so that was a bad idea.

She opened her eyes and turned around. She could only stare in awe at what was right in front of her.

It was a frozen fortress, the most beautiful building she had ever seen in her life.

There was really no other choice for her but to walk in that direction. She had been following Clark, so she must have landed wherever he had. That meant he must have been inside.

Chloe prayed he was there, because if she landed on the Pole all alone… well, she was facing a horrible death.

She started regretting following Clark, but then she reminded herself that if not with her, Lex would have gone to the caves alone and then he would have seen Clark there. Clark's secret would have been revealed to him.

No, Chloe had been right when following Clark.

She finally stepped into the Fortress, but the temperature did not change even though she was inside now. There was no door, no heating, because everything was made out of ice and… she touched the wall and it seemed like a very strange form of a crystal.

She wanted to open her mouth and call Clark, but she was so cold she couldn't speak anymore. Pain overwhelmed her body and she knew she would soon collapse to the floor and freeze to death. She almost could not stand the aching in her whole body, but she knew once it stopped, it would only be worse, it would mean her body was dying. It was better to feel pain.

Finally, she saw something. A bright illuminating light resembling the one back in the caves.

She made a few steps forward and there he was, Clark. He was inside that light, frozen.

"C… Cl… Clark?" she managed to hoarse and that was it. She fell to her knees, pretty sure she had just bruised them. She couldn't control the shaking of her body anymore. She knew that few more minutes, maybe even seconds were separating her from death.

"Cl... Clark, help…" she managed to say once again.

She knew there was no way he heard her. He couldn't.

Suddenly, a miracle happened. He did notice something was off.

Clark stopped paying attention to what Jor-El was telling him and imprinting into his brain. There was something wrong and he knew it. Someone he loved needed his help.

Chloe!

"Chloe!" he yelled, breaking free of the light and getting to her. "Chloe, what are you doing here?!"

She just looked up at him, but she was too weak to do or say anything.

Clark knew it was serious and he did not second guess it, he just took her in his arms and ran to the nearest hospital…

_Kal-El, _he heard his father's voice in his head, _you must return to me before the sun sets to finish your training. It is really imperative you do so._

* * *

Lex had even more questions now. There was always more and never any answer.

He was getting tired and sick of it all. There was a secret right in front of him, a huge secret, but he couldn't tell what it was!

His knuckles went white when he clenched his fists on the steering wheel.

When he had came to in the caves, there had been no one there, no Chloe, no light. The meteor shower had stopped. Lex had had no choice but to come back after he had explored every inch of those freaking caves. And nothing! There was nothing!

He knew there was a simple explanation for it all. Chloe must have left, escaped and he couldn't blame her. He must have really scared her. He hadn't been himself and he was ashamed of his behavior now. He would find her and apologize to her.

But that still didn't explain the light! It couldn't have been caused by the meteor shower, Lex had checked, there had been no damage to the cave! It couldn't have been just a figment of his imagination either. He had seen it long before Chloe had knocked him out.

Suddenly, a lean and tall figure appeared on the road right in front of Lex's car. He hit the brakes, thanking himself to always be driving in expensive cars, what meant good breaks.

Then he froze, baffled.

"Lana?" he asked, seeing the woman he cared about so much. The woman he had sent to Metropolis in his private chopper.

Unless…

"Oh, no!" Lex yelled and got out of his car. He screw up again! He must have been too late and Lana had been caught in the meteor shower when she had been in the air! "Lana, what happened?!" He got to her, but she pushed him away with a scream. "Lana, it's me!" He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "Lana? It's me, Lex. You're in shock!"

Her eyes finally met his and she calmed down a little.

"Lex?" she asked in such a low voice it was almost a whisper.

"Yes, it's me. Everything will be alright. Come on, I'll get you help." He reached his hand to her face and gently brushed her cheek.

"They're out there, Lex. We need to run!" Lana screamed.

"Who's out there?" he asked, not following.

"I saw them…" she said and looked around, her whole body shaking. She was clearly afraid of something. "I saw them… aliens…"

"Aliens?" Lex repeated after her, baffled. "What are you…?" But he wasn't one not to believe her. He had found once a alleged witness that had seen a space ship. He hadn't believed back there, but all he had seen since that time. All those _alien _things. The creature from the Kawatche caves, the light…

"They landed… space ship…" Lana kept on saying.

"Where?" Lex simply asked. "Show me where."

* * *

When Chloe opened her eyes the first thing she saw was Clark sitting by her side, worried sick.

"Clark?" she spoke and he immediately got closer to her.

"Chloe, how are you feelings?" There was urgency in his voice and fear.

"I'm fine. I'll walk out of here in time. You saved me."

"Chloe… what if I didn't see you? What if I was too late… You can't do that. You just… you can't keep doing it."

"I saved your life," she said, frowning.

"I know and I am grateful, but I never want to lose you. I don't know what I would do if…" his voice trailed off. "Promise me you'll be more careful. Promise," he insisted.

"Ok, ok, I promise. Clark, I'm fine, really."

"You didn't look fine when you were freezing to death. I got here as fast as I could, Chloe, but still… I was so afraid I was too late…"

"Oh, Clark," she said, suddenly realizing how terrified he was to lose her. "I'm not going anywhere. You won't get rid of me that easily," she tried to joke, but she barely managed to make him smile.

"I want you to know…" Clark took her hand in his. "Chloe, I…" He looked her in the eye. "Chloe, I love you," he said for the very first time.

She could just stare at him, speechless. She was stunned.

"I love you too," she finally answered and smiled broadly. "You have no idea how much. And you have no idea how happy I am to hear that coming from you."

Finally, he smiled and bent toward her to kiss her.

"I need to go back," he said right after the brief kiss. "I'm sorry, but I need to."

"Go back?" she asked, a little confused. "Where are we exactly?"

"Eh… North Pole?"

"North Pole?!" she repeated. "You brought me to a hospital on the North Pole?!"

"It was the closest. I was afraid to lose you if I went any further."

"That's sweet. Thank you, Clark."

"I'll come back for you. Hopefully before sunset."

"What happens at sunset?" she asked.

"The Fortress you saw… it was created from the elements brought together. This may be hard to understand, but it contains the memory of my biological father, Jor-El. He's kind of… a machine. And he wants to teach me about my original home, Krypton, and about by powers."

"Wow…" Chloe just exhaled. "That is… amazing. But wait… he gave you an ultimatum?"

Clark just shrugged. "I don't know him well, but I better listen to him. I'll be back. Love you." He kissed her again.

"Love you too, Clark. Now go save the world."

He was gone.

* * *

Chloe must have fallen asleep again, because next thing she knew, something woke her up.

"Clark?" she asked out of a habit, Besides, he had told her he would be back.

Only the man in the room wasn't Clark. It was Lex.

"Lex!" Chloe got scared and sat upright in bed. "What are you doing here?"

"The real question is, Chloe," Lex started, "what are _you _doing here? You see, I wanted to find you to apologize for my earlier behavior and then… I located you here, on the North Pole. Once they admitted you to this hospital, your data was in their system. Just don't tell me you were looking for Lana, because you thought she wandered out here," Lex mocked her.


	11. Chapter 11

**Part 11**

Chloe would never betray Clark's secret, therefore she did not tell Lex anything. She chose to play the 'I don't remember what happened card'. She had no other choice.

"Why would you call Clark's name?" Lex asked her on the plane that was taking them home. "I walked into your room in the hospital on the North Pole and you called Clark's name. Why? How would he get there?"

"Lex, seriously, stops this!" Chloe scolded him. "I am tired of your accusations and the way you're looking at me! I'm not lying to you! And I called Clark's name just because we're dating, so it was only natural. I had no idea where I was when I woke up."

Lex just kept looking at her quizzically, but then he took his cell and called Clark.

"Hi, Clark, it's Lex. I found Chloe. I'm bringing her home."

Chloe was silently praying for Clark not to say something that would undermine what she had already told Lex. Fortunately, he seemed to pick up that Lex was suspicious, because then she heard Lex saying, "Yes, she's fine. You don't have to worry, Clark. I found her in a very peculiar place though…" The conversation went on for a few more minutes, but luckily for Chloe and Clark, Lex had no longer any grounds to have suspicions.

When he hang up, Chloe pretended to have fallen asleep to avoid any questions he might ask her.

* * *

By now Lana knew enough from Lex to figure out that green meteor rocks could hurt the aliens that had apparently invaded Smallville. Lex had called her a doctor that had patched her up and she was to rest on the sofa in Lex's library, but she refused to. She needed to find them, to face them in order to conquer her own fear. They hadn't killed her because they were looking for someone named Kal-El. Lana could fool them, bring them here, to the mansion, to the vault in which Lex kept meteor rocks. She had seen them there before. Maybe it could work. Maybe she and Lex could merit from that. Saving the whole town, maybe the whole world from such a danger would be a huge thing. Also, Lana didn't want anyone to get hurt.

If only those aliens didn't see right through her and didn't throw her across the room…

Then it was only blackness she saw…

* * *

When Lana woke up, she felt dull pain in her whole body. Her head was pounding and she really didn't feel like opening her eyes. She had no choice though, she needed to know what was going on, what had happened and why she was still alive.

"Lana?" she heard manly voice, speaking to her with care. "Lana, are you alright?" Then there was a hand on her hand.

She forced herself to look and saw very worried Lex sitting in a chair right next to her bed.

"Lex…" she whizzed and coughed.

"Water?" he quickly followed with a proposal and put the rim of the glass to her parched lips. She drunk appreciatively.

"What… happened?" she asked.

"Well, I thought you could tell me that. You had me worried there for a while," Lex said and then brought his hand to her cheek to stroke it gently. "I came back home and I found out that you were in the hospital. No one could tell me anything though, only that someone who looked just like Clark brought you here."

"Clark?" Lana asked in surprise. "I don't remember, Lex. I tried to lure those aliens to your study where you keep the meteor rocks, but they realized what I was doing. I thought they killed me, but apparently not, because I'm here."

"Everyone's so cryptic now," Lex sighed heavily.

"I'm not lying to you," Lana told him, frowning.

"I know you're not. Clark and Chloe are, but I don't have any prove."

"What happened to those aliens?" Lana suddenly asked, feeling goosebumps all over her.

"You don't need to worry, Lana. Somehow, they're gone. Something strange happened in my study and I wish I knew what. My scientists found evidence of a portal that was created there."

"A portal?" Lana opened her eyes widely. "How?"

"They can't say. I have reasons to believe that it was the aliens' way out."

"I'm glad you believe me. Everyone else would send me to a shrink," she said.

"Lana, we're in this together. I know you're telling the truth. We found the ship after all, didn't we?"

"Did the police get their hands on it?"

"No, it's safe in my facility. When you get better, I'll take you to it."

* * *

"Clark! Thank god!" Chloe got to the farm as soon as she could and then she ran straight to the barn, where she found him.

He saw her and spread his arms to hug her and for a moment, they were just standing there, embracing.

"Are you alright?" Chloe asked when she pulled away to look at him. "Did you come back to see Jor-El? Clark, what is it?" she added the last question on seeing the strange look on his face.

He sighed and turned around, then got to the window.

"I didn't go to see Jor-El. It was too late."

"What do you mean, too late?" Chloe asked, interested and scared in the same time.

Clark turned back to her, leaning against the window sill and folding his arms on his chest.

"When I tried to get rid of those Kryptonians, Lana was there, unconscious in Lex's study. They created a portal to suck me inside, but I managed to hold on and they fell in there instead. The sun was already setting, but I couldn't leave Lana to die, so I took her to a hospital. It was too late. My wound didn't heal."

"Wound? What wound?!" Chloe raised her voice, eying Clark in search for it.

"Just a scratch," he told her, pulling his sleeve up. "My powers are gone, Chloe. They are… gone."

"What do you mean?" she prompted, making her way to him, unable to take her eyes off his eyes. There was something there that did not look like sorrow, quite the opposite.

"I'm human. I'm just… human…" Now he smiled broadly and then reached out, took her arm and brought her closer, kissing her.

Chloe forgot how to talk when Clark's lips landed on hers and his tongue was doing something spectacular in her mouth, so she also stopped breathing.

Finally, they both needed to pull away to catch a breath.

"It's so amazing, Chloe," Clark told her, cupping her face. "It's so good to be normal."

"You were special, Clark, not abnormal," she corrected.

"You preferred me with powers?" he suddenly asked, his hands dropping on each side of him like she just hurt him.

"No!" she denied quickly. "It doesn't matter for me if you have them or not. I love you, Clark Kent, the person you are, not what you can do. I just… I just don't think you will be happy like this. I always believed you were destined to do so much more than what a common human being could."

"Well, maybe there's no such thing like destiny?" he said. "Maybe I was meant to save the Earth from those Kryptonians' invasion like I did today? I don't care about it now. I'm free."

"What if Jor-Ell calls you back?"

"He was the one to take my powers away. Something tells me he doesn't want anything to do with me. Besides, it's just a machine. _This_ is real. _We_ are real, Chloe."

He kissed her again and before she knew it, they were locked in a tight embrace and her hips came in contact with his, feeling something hard there.

Clark pulled away.

"Sorry," he said.

"For what?" she asked, taken off track and hazy from the need for him.

"I just… Just because we're together, I don't want to pressure you into anything."

"You're not. In fact, I'm ready. I've been ready for quite some time now. Are you?"

"Oh yes, I am," he said, his voice husky when he got closer again. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." She smiled broadly to him and raised her hands, so he could take off her shirt.

She was standing now in front of him in her red bra, letting him ravish her with his eyes.

"You're so beautiful," Clark finally told her.

"Thank you. You too… Or maybe I should say you're so handsome."

He chuckled and leaned for a kiss again, couldn't get enough of her taste. Then he raised her up and took into his arms, carrying to the sofa.

"Is this a good place?" he asked.

"Perfect. I just need you. I don't care about anything else," she reassured him when she sat on it and pulled on his shirt to take it off.

Clark had such a muscular body, she thought when looking at him, her eyes lit by desire. She would never get enough of him and his skilful lips.

Soon, she found out that he also had skilful hands when she laid down and he hovered over her, kissing her, touching, his hands all over her, exploring the new territory until she was lying completely naked and shaking underneath him.

"Wait…" he stopped himself when he was just about to take his pants off. "We can actually make a baby now… and I don't have a condom… I'm so stupid…"

His face looked so funny at the moment that Chloe burst out laughing.

"What? I'm trying to take care of you here." He was clearly ashamed of himself. And he didn't have powers to run to a shop without people looking at the bulge in his pants.

"Relax, I'm on the pill. When we started dating I figured it would be safe that way."

"Oh, thank god," Clark said in relief and finally, he could take his pants off.

"Do you always have to be an overachiever?" Chloe asked when she saw how big he actually was.

"What?" He wasn't following.

"Nothing. I'm sure I will like that little… no, that is wrong, that big boy in the future a lot, but right now it will hurt like hell."

"I'm sorry…" It was evident that Clark had difficulties with focus right now. His cock was painfully erect and being human was still new to him. Even if he had powers, he would have probably be feeling the same way around Chloe, because… it was Chloe. The woman he was crazy about.

"It's ok. Get over here." Chloe reached her arms to him what caused her breasts to raise and caught his sight. She laughed. "Every man is the same, isn't it?"

"You're beautiful," was all he said when he finally got to her, kissing her again, working on her with his hands.

Suddenly, it was all too much. Clark's index finger sliding into Chloe's channel, then curling, his cock pressing against her stomach, his hot breath on her cheek… She cried out and reached her first orgasm.

"That was beautiful too," he assured her when kissing her and then he gently nudged on her channel with his cock. "Are you ready?"

"Oh, yeah…" she gasped when he the tip teased her down there. "I love you, Clark."

"I love you too, Chloe," he answered and pushed inside slowly, their eyes locked together in the intimate moment.

When he met a resistance, he stopped, but Chloe urged him to go on. Then she felt a little pain and finally, like she was being stretch a little too much. It wasn't entirely comfortable, but it wasn't as painful as she'd thought it would be either. Probably the first orgasm helped her adjust quicker.

"Are you alright?" Clark asked, buried deep inside her, feeling her tight channel clenching over him and he barely hold on as not to start thrusting into her. It was torture. It was heaven. All in the same time.

"Yes, I think you can move now," she encouraged him, so he did, though very slowly. "Oh, yes…" she cried out when she felt him stimulating her inner muscles and then hitting her uterus. She wanted him so much and she was very wet form the first time she came, so she had no longer problems with his size and she was so happy about that. She had a petite frame, so she must be lucky.

Soon they both got lost in it. Nothing existed around them. It felt so good and they loved and trusted each other so much.

They both knew they were with the right person and their hearts were too overwhelmed with feelings. The pressure was building inside Chloe once again and she tightened her hold on Clark, digging her nails into his skin. She started coming and he, barely holding on, on feeling her already tight channel clenching even tighter around him, let it go, couldn't stop himself. Her fingers nailing him only make his climax that much stronger and intense.

Then they just stilled, still together, not able to move, breathing heavily.

"God, we need to do this every single damn day!" Chloe decided. "It's too fucking good."

"It must've been since you said fuck," Clark chuckled with his face buried in the crook of Chloe's neck. "I never want to let you go."

"Then don't," she told him, placing a kiss on his arm that was the closest to her mouth now.

* * *

Clark was human. He was in love. He was happy.

The summer was idyllic for him and Chloe, minus that one morning Clark's parents caught her sneaking out of his room in his shirt…

Then in the next week, a three meteor infected invaded the Kent's farm. Clark found himself powerless to help, but fortunately, he ended up beating them with logic.

When he came back to Chloe that night, he was furious.

"Chloe, Lex did it!" he raised his voice.

"What?" Chloe seemed to be surprised.

"He deliberately helped those meteor infected escape from BelleReve, so he could find out my secret!" Clark was so angry he hit his fist into a pillar and of course, it hurt.

"Clark, you're gonna hurt yourself!" Chloe got to him, took his hand and looked at his fist. "Did Lex tell you this?"

"He didn't deny it. I hit him."

"You did what?"

"And then he hit me back. At least he knows now that I'm human!"

Chloe took Clark's chin and turned it, so she could see his lips. One of them was bleeding.

"I need to look at this, come." He followed her inside her apartment.

"Did you know he even tried to get his hands on my medical records?" Clark asked when Chloe was disinfecting his wound. "Auch!"

"Well, welcome to my world, Clark. Being human means pain sometimes," she said in a hard voice.

"You still can't believe he betrayed me like that, can you?" Clark asked, reading her perfectly.

"No, actually, I can," Chloe sighed heavily. "It makes it that much harder. I trusted him. I tried to be his friend… but ever since I pushed him on that wall in the caves and then he located me in Arctic, he's been suspicious. I'm sorry, Clark, I really am. I'm glad he chose this moment though, because you clearly are human now."

"I know you had faith in him, Chloe," Clark said, looking her in the eye when she finally finished with his cut. He took her hand as she sat right by his sight on the sofa. "I'm sorry he betrayed it."

"He was so different those three months when I was in hiding, you know," she confessed.

"I do, but he also had an ulterior motif."

"I know."

Clark draped his arm around her.

"You still have me and I love you, you know."

He finally made her smile.

"I know, Clark. I never doubted you the way I did Lex."

"I told him this friendship was over," Clark confessed.

"I'm not surprised. I would do that too if he investigated me. I guess mine with him is over as well. He doesn't get to threaten you and your family's lives and get away with it!"

* * *

"I'm glad you came," Lex said when Lana appeared in the door to his study. "I thought I was so close, but it turned out to be a false lead. Clark is nothing more than human," he notified, clearly disappointed.

"Then he must be a damn lucky one," Lana answered, walking inside and making her way to Lex. "He's always there when something happens, Lex. He is hiding something."

"With that I agree… well, about that ship…"


	12. Chapter 12

**Part 12**

The gun went off and the blood splashed the glass wall.

Chloe just stood there. Mortified.

She just killed a person. She just killed a person she thought of as a friend.

Gabriel was dead because of her. It was self-defense, but still…

Chloe was shaking, but she wasn't sorry. She knew that this day would result itself in nightmares, but right now, she did not care. There was something more important. Something dreadful, hurtful… something breaking her heart.

The missile went off… and it was too late for her to stop it even though she tried so hard. She had tried so hard that she had actually jumped a man with a gun and the gun had gone off, killing him on the spot.

That man. Her former friend. Gabriel. He had killed…

Chloe couldn't believe it. Still couldn't accept it. Clark couldn't be dead. No! There _must _be something to be done! Clark was an alien! He wasn't just a man! So what that he did not have any powers at the moment! Chloe knew it deep down inside that he was destined for much more than just being a farmer. He was destined to be great. To save the world maybe. Jor-El must know that! Jor-El must do something!

Maybe she was still in denial. She always saw Clark as an immortal, even when he had lost his powers. And now Clark was killed by a bullet that he would have so easily stopped if he had those powers.

Chloe closed her eyes as the missile was launched. In a moment her whole life would be gone. Smallville would be gone and along with the town, every single person she cared about. Every single person Clark cared about! His parents…

Then something unexpected happened.

"Failure in acquiring a target… failure in…"

Chloe couldn't believe it, yet it was happening.

There was only one person that could stop a flying missile and it was the man she loved more than anything.

Clark was alive. She didn't believe for nothing. He was really alive and well and with powers. She had been right - he _was _destined for so much more than to just die young.

* * *

"I already told you what happened!" Chloe raised her voice in exasperation. "Gabriel was a crazy lunatic that wanted to blow up the whole town. He thought that Smallville was full of… "freaks" he called them."

"And yet, he tried to save you."

"How am I supposed to know how a crazy person thinks? For some reason he liked me more than all the others. Maybe he was in love with me, I don't know! Please, can you let me go now? You said it yourself, it was self-defense!" Chloe's patience was dwindling. The police had found her along with Gabriel's body and taken for questioning. They had seemed to believe her story, but they kept asking her all those questions over and over again.

"I really need to see my boyfriend. I thought he was dead. Please!"

The policeman seemed to grow himself a heart, because he sighed and then said, "Alright, Miss Sullivan. If we want anything more, we will let you know. You're free to go and we do not press any charges. Everything you said matches up with what we gathered from the crime scene."

_Crime scene_, Chloe thought and almost shivered. That didn't sound good.

She barely walked out of the questioning room when she heard his voice.

"Chloe!" Clark was running toward her from the other side of the hall, worry evident in his voice. "Chloe!"

She saw him and she felt tears in her eyes. She couldn't stop them. She ran into him, letting him take her into his arms and raise up from the ground. She put her arms around his neck, clinging to him, sobbing.

"Clark, I thought you were dead," she whispered into his ear.

"I'm alright, Chloe. I am alive and… well, everything's like it was before."

"I am so happy that it is. I need you. I don't know what I would've done if…"

He put her down to the floor and cupped her face, wiping her tears with his thumbs.

"I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. I love you."

"Take me out of here."

"Let's go."

He draped his arm around her and they walked out of the police station. Once they found themselves outside and made sure no one could see them, Clark picked Chloe up from the ground once again and speeded off to her Talon apartment.

"I have blood on my clothes," Chloe suddenly realized with horrification.

"It's alright. Just get in the shower. I'll prepare something to eat," Clark offered. "You must be hungry."

"Not really," she admitted. "My stomach seems to be a tight knot."

"Maybe a hot shower will make it better," Clark suggested.

The supper was ready and the water in the bathroom was still running, so Clark walked over there to see if Chloe was alright.

"Chloe?" he asked when he opened the door. "Chloe, is everything alright?"

She did not answer, so he got worried even more and he walked in, then pushed the shower cabin open.

Chloe was sitting naked on the cabin floor, her arms around her bent knees. Clark could not tell because of the water running, but he was pretty sure she was crying.

"Chloe…" his voice grew softer and before he knew it, he took off his own clothes and got in there with her, putting his hands on her arms and bringing her up to a stranding position.

She didn't say anything, she just clang to his naked body. He knew he had to control himself. It wasn't about sex now. It was about comfort.

"I… killed him…" she finally sobbed when he kept on stroking her wet hair and her back, trying very hard not to think of his member that was waking up thanks to the contact with Chloe's naked body. Sometimes Clark wished he could have a better control over himself. He wasn't even a man, was he? Only around Chloe he seemed to be acting like a horny teenager and couldn't help it.

"You didn't. He did it to himself. You were just defending yourself and you were trying to help."

"I was still too late…"

"But you did try, Chloe. You're amazingly strong," Clark told her and kept on soothing her. The water was hot, but she was still shaking. "You don't give up. Most of girls in your place would just sit there and cry. You had reasons to believe I was dead, yet, you did not lose cold blood. You kept on fighting. I am very proud of you," Clark assured her.

"I couldn't…" she started and then stopped. "Oh, I just couldn't stand the thought of you being gone. I didn't want to believe it or think about it. That is why I chose action over despair."

"Still, it was a good choice. I am here and I am not going anywhere, I promise." Clark pulled away to be able to swear to her when looking into her eyes. "You have me. You will always have me."

"One day you might be attacked with kryptonite. What then?" she asked.

"Been there and done that, besides, if I was a human, I could be ran over by a bus tomorrow. This is just life, Chloe. We need to enjoy it while we can."

"Thank you, Clark. I don't know… I don't know how we ended up here, but thank you. Thank you for loving me."

"It's not something you can thank me for," he said. "My heart chose it and it just… is. Now, are you ready to eat something, honey?"

She gave him a pure resemblance of a smile, but at least she was trying.

They got out of the shower and Clark handed her over a towel and then her bathrobe. He just dried himself off and put his clothes back on, then he led her to the kitchen.

"You did it all for me?" Chloe asked, looking at the table full of food.

"Yes, dig in."

"Only if you join me."

"I know it's late and you probably shouldn't have it… but I also made coffee."

This time Chloe sent Clark a very bright smile and seemed to got sucked into the coffee mug.

When they ate, she asked.

"Would you make love to me tonight? I need it. I need to know you're alive. I need to feel you and I need to forget."

"Chloe…" Clark started, not really knowing how to tell her the truth. "I don't think it's a good idea."

"What is the problem? Do you think I didn't notice in the shower? You wanted me then."

"My body always wants you, but this is not the point. I didn't make any move on you there, because I wanted to comfort you, not to have sex with you."

"I know that and I love you for all those little things even more, but… what's stopping you now?" she asked, jumping off her chair and sitting on his laps.

"What if I hurt you?" he decided to be honest. He couldn't not be. They were in this together. He hoped for better and worse. "My powers are back."

"You never hurt me before," she said, not following.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure I can control my powers well when… all I want to do it to lose that control. Sex is not about keeping inhibitions, Chloe."

"We can at least try, can't we?" she asked. "I trust you not to hurt me. Besides, if we don't practice, we will never have it again."

"And we wouldn't want that," Clark chuckled, kissing her cheek.

"No…" Chloe agreed, catching his mouth.

"Ok, we can try, but I do not make any promises," Clark said.

"Fine by me."

He took her into his arms again and carried to the bedroom. He had been doing that a lot recently, just carrying her, but he didn't mind. For him she was as light as a feather and he loved having her in his arms, close to his chest and therefore, his heart.

After everything they had been through that day, they took it slow, just enjoying each other, loving each other. They did not rush. It was all about love and Clark really wanted to show Chloe how much he loved her and he really wanted to make this work.

It turned out that it wasn't that bad. In fact, it was great. He did not hurt her. They would need some practice when ready for something more harsh like they had experienced when Clark had been human, but he thought they could get there with time. She was so dear to him that he wouldn't be able to hurt her. His subconscious wouldn't let him.

"I love you so much…" Chloe said when she felt the climax building deep inside her.

"I love you too… forever…" Clark told her.

Forever was a great word, but not even he could be sure of it…


	13. Chapter 13

**AN **I told you a few chapters ago that we were going closer to a huge surprise/breakthrough in the story and still, I have not got there. I am sorry. I did not anticipate how much time it would take.

* * *

**Part 13**

When Chloe opened her eyes, she realized she was lying naked in Clark's bed. It wasn't that bad. In fact, it was the only place she wanted to be in the morning, but… Clark's bed meant Clark's room, it meant the farm.

"Holy shit!" she cursed under her breath and got out of bed, trying to gather all of her clothes and then put them on.

"Chloe?" Clark asked in a surprised voice and finally, he opened his eyes, yawning in the same time. "Chloe, where's the fire? Why are you leaving? I thought we were ok."

"We are, but this is your home which basically means that your parents are here! How will they react when they see me sneaking out of your room in the morning?"

"Isn't that exactly what you're doing?" Clark asked, finally feeling more conscious as the sleep left him and he got up too. "Chloe, my parents know that I love you and that I want to be with you. It's only natural that you stay over."

"No, it's not! It's one thing to stay over when they're still in the house and another to stay over when they're not!" After having said that, Chloe left the room.

"Chloe!" Clark followed her. If he could only make her understand that his parents would not…

He stopped once they got to the front door and heard Martha Kent's voice. "Clark? Clark, are you alright? You never get up so late…" And then Martha and Jonathan Kent both appeared in the kitchen door, petrified by seeing Clark and Chloe trying to sneak out of the house.

"Told you so," Chloe managed to whisper.

* * *

"Mum, dad, you know how much I love her. And I'm an adult now. I just don't see what's the problem…" Clark started.

Chloe was sitting right by his side by the kitchen table, feeling incredibly awkward. It seemed like a family thing and she was not family, not yet at least or not that kind. Still, Mr. and Mrs. Kent asked her to stay to settle some things up.

"Clark, it's not about that," Jonathan sighed, "it's about you getting your powers back. How do you know that you can control yourself?"

"Mr. Kent, with all due respect, I think our relationship is a private matter," Chloe finally spoke, deciding to do that instead of just sitting there and getting redder on the face. "I understand your concern about Clark and me, but… we are fine. I am perfectly fine. If Clark couldn't do something, he wouldn't. He would never hurt me and you know that."

"We just… We just never really talk about… those things," Martha Kent spoke, equally embarrassed.

"Mum, it's the 21 century, please, do not say we should be waiting till our wedding day," Clark said in exasperated voice.

On hearing that words coming from him, Chloe's heart started beating faster. Of course she knew he loved her and he wanted to spend his life with her, but talking about wedding… It didn't sound like he never wanted to, quite the opposite, like it was something they would do eventually.

"No, dear, I'm not," Martha managed to smile. "I meant that we were never really had the talk, you know? We thought with your father that… that you couldn't…"

"Well, I can," Clark contradicted. "And Chloe is right. It's none of your business. All you should care about is that we're happy."

"What about protection?" Jonathan picked up after his wife. "What if Chloe gets pregnant? We have no way of knowing what would come out of this."

"I will not get pregnant anytime soon," Chloe assured them, understanding that they were just taking care of Clark, their only son, as they had been always doing, but it still unsettled her to talk to them about some intimate matters. "Don't worry, we're being safe. Can I go now?"

"Not without breakfast," Martha Kent said to her relief. "You're getting really thin, Chloe. Have you eaten something recently? Coffee does not count!" she added.

Chloe laughed. She really loved Clark's mother, there was something about her that made her think… that she could be something of a mother to her too one day. Maybe she would.

* * *

There was darkness. Numbness. Nothingness.

Like she was dead.

Only she wasn't, because suddenly she felt a sharp burning pain in her chest and then her body jerked violently upwards and her eyes flung open.

The first thing she saw was a pair of blue-gray eyes looking at her worryingly.

"Clark!" she called his name even though her eyes, although still a little blurry and unfocused, could not recognize this slim man as Clark. Clark would be bigger. Clark would have…

"Less hair, more money," Lex Luthor said. "Welcome back, Chloe."

"Where's Clark? What happened?" She was still confused. What was she doing here? She was clearly in a hospital.

Then she felt dull pain in another part of her body, her neck. Her hand wandered up there and she found a bandage. The bite… Things started coming back to her.

"What is the last thing you remember?" Lex asked.

The care for her was wrong, she thought suddenly. They should be enemies, shouldn't they? Why was he so nice to her?

Then she remembered. She wasn't the one to break her friendship with Lex off, Clark had done that, because Lex had betrayed him. Chloe could only be loyal to one of those two and she had chosen the one she loved. Maybe Lex still cared about her? Why wouldn't he? But he wasn't the same gentle and caring Lex she remembered from the safe house either.

She focused, trying to figure out how she had gotten to the hospital in the first place.

The wound on her neck from a bite.

Lana had bitten her!

"Lana… is she alright? She was…" Chloe stopped. The word vampire didn't really want to go through her throat.

"Yes, Lana is back to normal as well," Lex assured Chloe. "I should've taken care of her and instead, I let her go have her college experience. There wasn't a free room in any of the dorms and she refused to accept my help, so she joined that sisterhood."

"Who would think they were vampires…" Chloe said. "What are you doing here?"

"LuthorCorp was your only chance. My scientist managed to develop a cure."

"Oh… I should thank you then…" Chloe realized. "But maybe I shouldn't. If it hadn't been for your experiments, none of this would have happened, Lex. What are you doing? How far are you willing to go before you seriously hurt someone?"

"You even talk like him now," Lex said, a hint of disappointment and sadness in his voice. "You're just like him."

"Clark?" Chloe asked. "I love him. I will always stand by his side, Lex. And you betrayed him. Even if it wasn't about him… I always follow the truth and justice and what you're doing… it's just wrong."

"Like I said, Clark talking. I'm glad you're feeling better," Lex just told her and directed himself toward the door.

"Lex…" Chloe called after him, suddenly feeling sorry for him. Whatever he had done, she still thought he might come out of this. That he might still become the good person she had used to know. If only she knew how to help him…

"See you around, Chloe," he just said without turning around and then he left.

Maybe some things were unfixable, Chloe thought sadly, maybe there really was nothing she could do. She couldn't heal the whole world. She didn't feel like she could help Lex either.

* * *

"I'm really happy that you got that job, Chloe," Clark was saying, "but I really do not want you to go and risk your life like this!"

"Well, I didn't know I would end up bitten by a vampire when I dragged you to that party," Chloe laughed. "The fact is, Clark, we never really know what can happen to us. Even in the safest place in this world, we can still get hurt. I can't promise you I won't find myself in any danger ever again. It comes with the job and as much as I hate to admit it, it's also one of the benefits of dating you."

"Benefits?" Clark raised his eyebrows.

"You know what I mean… I'm just surprised that Lex helped me. I haven't been talking to him for so long now…"

"He didn't," Clark revealed to Chloe's surprise. "I asked him to. Besides, Lana was hurt and in need of this cure as well. They seem to be too close."

"Don't tell me you're jealous of Lana," Chloe snorted, but inside she was really afraid. She had no grounds to believe that Clark still liked her, but his affection for Lana had hurt her so deeply in the past that she wanted to know the truth.

"Of course not. I just don't think that anyone, who is remotely pure, should be friends with the Luthors."

"Well, here you're actually right," Chloe admitted. "We can't do anything about it though."

"You're right. Lana makes her own choices and I'm done worrying about her. She can do whatever she wants, she can marry the guy for all I care. It would only hurt her."

"Truth!"

"What do you say we go out to celebrate your coming back to health and getting the dream job at the Planet?"


	14. Chapter 14

**Part 14**

Chloe had her hands full of job recently. In fact, she always had, but this time it was an extra load. The internship in the Planet was her dream come true, but in the same time it took a lot of her energy. She tried so hard to be noticed, to become somebody. Right now she was usually stuck with night shifts by the phone, so she either slept in her chair or was studying for her college classes that she took via the Internet and in the evenings. Added to that, she was in a relationship with Clark and even though he understood her busy schedule, she wanted to spend some quality time with him as she had been doing before, for the sake of their relationship. The situation did not get any better when Clark's father announced his running for the senate seat and shortly after that one, Clark's mother came down with an unusual disease.

"Chloe, they don't know what's wrong with her," Clark was telling her when visiting her at work. She really had no heart to throw him out of there even if she still had a lot to do for her class. "They said they've never seen anything like this before."

Clark's mother was sick, maybe dying, and they could do nothing about it.

Chloe bit her lip, thinking hard.

"Do you think it may have something to do with kryptonite?" she asked.

"I don't think so. I can go near her and I'm fine," Clark answered.

"Hmm… maybe it's alien? Maybe somehow… someone…" Chloe wondered, but she had nothing. Nothing came to her head. "I'm sorry, Clark, I'm out of ideas. Maybe you should go see Jor-El?"

"After the last fiasco with him? I don't think so. I don't want to go near him. Why would he help me anyway?"

"Do you see any other option? If we were still friends with Lex, then maybe he could…"

"Chloe, you can't be serious!" Clark raised his voice and immediately tuned it down when people started looking at him. "I can't trust him," he added quietly.

* * *

Chloe knew Clark would do anything to save his mother, just like he would if Chloe herself was in danger, but trusting a person he knew nothing about?

It did not feel right to Chloe. Something was definitely off and she could feel it. That was why she followed professor Fine that day. Clark said that he was a Kryptonian and he was here to help. Martha Kent's disease was Jor-El's doing and Fine could cure her…

Still, why would Jor-El strike Clark's mother? Even a machine was smart enough to figure out that this move would alienate Clark to him forever.

That was why Chloe could not lose Fine out of her sight. Clark did not think clearly. She could understand that, but she was here for him. She always was and would be. She would find out the truth.

* * *

She got more than she bargained for, she thought as she knocked on the door to Kent's farm.

"Where's Clark?!" she asked without a word of greeting.

"He went with professor Fine to the Fortress," Jonathan Kent answered her. "Chloe, what's wrong? Are you alright? Do you have the symptoms too?"

"No! I just… I followed Fine today and he went to the restricted LuthorCorp arena and when I took a peek… Mr. Kent, there's no way he's a Kryptonian. He's not human, but he's not like Clark either. He… just melted, like he was made of some liquid metal and then he was taken into a space ship that Lex is keeping there! I need to get to Clark before it's too late! I know Fine made Mrs. Kent feel better, but I don't believe that's what he really wants."

"Can you get to the Fortress?" Mr. Kent just asked.

"Yes!"

"Chloe, maybe I should go with you…"

"No, Mr. Kent. It's too dangerous for you and I've already been there once. Let me handle this!"

"Just be careful, will you, Chloe?"

* * *

It was snowing. And it was high time for that, Chloe thought when she looked outside the window.

It was Christmas Eve and she had just finished decorating a Christmas tree with Clark.

"Chloe," Clark said, appearing right beside her and embracing her from behind.

She leaned blissfully into his warm body.

"I'm sorry," he said to her. "I know I should've known better…"

"Don't you worry about that, Clark. I understand that you were just worried about your mother. I wouldn't think clearly if something like that happened to someone I love either," Chloe assured him.

"I just keep thinking… if you hadn't come to save me… Zod would've ruled the Earth now."

"But I did come," she said, turning around to face him. "I will always come for you."

"And I will for you. I just… I hate the thought of you getting yourself in danger for me."

"Well, it was my choice. I chose this life, Clark. I love you and I would do anything for you."

"But if you left me… you'd be much safer," he said.

"What the hell are you even thinking?" she got mad at him. "Don't you say stuff like that in Christmas Eve!" She smacked him gently, but of course it did not hurt him at all. "I'm not going anywhere. Maybe a life without you would be safer, but what is the point of boring, loveless and safe life? It's not really living, Clark, it's existing."

"You have no idea how much I love you," he confessed, leaning toward her and kissing her gently.

"I think I do, because I love you too."

"I should tell you that I love you every single day," he told her when he pulled her into his strong arms and she buried her face in his shirt, inhaling his scent. "For everything I put you through in the past… you were always there and I did not see it."

"Past is in the past," Chloe said. "This is the present and we should live it with no regrets. Let's go… I think the dinner's almost ready. I'll help your mum to lay the table."

"Chloe, I heard Lois's coming to town in the New Year," Martha said to the blonde. "Is she looking for a job, maybe?"

"Why do you ask Mrs. Kent?" Chloe got curious.

"Well, the last time I met her she was such a go-ahead girl that I think she might be a great choice for running Jonathan's campaign."

"You really think so?" Chloe asked, thinking about it. "Well, actually… I think you might be right. That would be a great job for Lois. I'll ask her."

"Brilliant."


	15. Chapter 15

**Part 15**

"This is not Jonathan Kent!" Lois was scolding a photographer hired to take pictures for the campaign. "People don't see him as a man who walks around in a suit! This is just fake! Can you imagine a farmer dressed like that? We need to do this all over again!... I'm gone for half an hour and when I come back this is the mess I find myself in! Unbelievable! What are you staring at?! Go back to work! And this time do it well!"

Chloe stood right next to Clark who was watching the scene playing in his house.

"Your mother was right. Lois is great at her job," Chloe said to him.

"Yeah… I just wish I could get back my life already," Clark complained. "She's always here and I need to do my chores in the middle of the night. I don't remember the last time I had a whole night of sleep."

"Oh, I'm sorry, you can stop sneaking up into my place after you do the chores and that will get you some more sleep," Chloe teased him, laughing.

"I'd rather give up my chores," the answer came, making her laugh even harder.

"I'd rather have a healthy boyfriend who is not in danger of collapsing anytime soon so maybe I just stop letting you into my apartment."

"Now that's just mean. Do you have any idea how loud she can snore? I heard her from the couch downstairs," Clark complained about Lois again.

Chloe could not stop laughing.

"But she does wonders for your father's campaign." She patted her boyfriend on the back.

* * *

It was not enough for Lois to do all by herself in this complain. Oh no, she thought, it was also not enough that she was surrounded by idiots. Now she needed to protect her boss's future. Her lead had sent her a message that someone was trying to put dirt on Kent. She could not let that happen. Maybe she got that lead because she was working for the Inquisitor, but it did not mean that it was false. Lois treated all of it seriously and did not care about people laughing at her for wiring for such a rag. She had no choice in the matter anyway. She needed to earn her living and she refused to take money from her father. Maybe now, once she landed that campaign manager position, she could climb up the ladder? Maybe it was her big break? She was good at controlling the situation and people. Maybe it was her calling.

Now… where this secret man was to meet the scumbag that could destroy her employer career?

It did not take much for her to add two and two. There was only one person who was running against Jonathan Kent and it was Lex Luthor. Lois had no doubt that he was the one she would see in this place in a moment. She even prepared her camera phone. One picture would be enough to land a great story and to bury Luthor forever, to run him out of the campaign and Kansas would have a leader they deserved - Jonathan Kent, the only honest man for the job.

She saw someone entering the doggy building.

"Bingo," she whispered to herself and prepared her camera.

For a moment there she listened on the conversation and when it was over and she had a few precious pictures, she hid her phone and waited till she was alone to leave as well.

She did not see one thing coming though. She was not careful enough. He knew she was there. He found her out.

"Now, what do we have here?" she heard his voice so proud of himself. He held the power. And she could not let that happen. She was a strong woman and she would not give in to any form of blackmail.

"Listen, mister, I won't let you…"

There next thing she knew was the gun firing and everything went black…

* * *

"Clark!" Chloe ran into the farm, her face indicated that she was worried sick.

"Chloe? What happened? Is everything alright?!" Clark got to her in no time, using his superspeed. "Talk to me."

"I don't know if it is," she admitted. "It's just… I can't contact Lois. She said she was chasing a lead, but I haven't heard from her. I was worried so I… kind of hacked into the police system and traced her phone. Please, please, go there now. I have a very bad feeling."

She did not have to tell him twice. Clark knew that Chloe and Lois shared a very special bond. They were like sisters and they could sense if the other was in trouble. It was what had brought Lois to Smallville the first time when everyone thought of Chloe to be dead.

Clark grabbed Chloe's phone with the coordinates and speeded off to that place.

"Lois!" he yelled when he entered the dingy building. It was abandoned and dark. What was she even doing there in the first place? "LOIS!" he screamed her name and listened hard.

He heard something, but it terrified him. The sound he heard was of a heart that was beating so irregularly that it would soon stop.

Following the sound, Clark found Lois lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

"My god, Lois!" he called her name as he squatted by her side and gently cupped her face. "Lois? Can you hear me?" He had no choice. If he did not take her to a hospital, she would die.

He took her into his arms and then she opened her eyes.

"Lois, you'll be fine, I promise," he told her.

"L… L… Lex..." she finally uttered.

"Lex did this to you?" Clark asked when speeding off with her. Now he stood in the hospital corridor.

"Ye… s…" he heard Lois answering right before the nurses got to them.

"She's been shot! Help her!" Clark called to them, watching helplessly as they took the cousin of the woman he loved into the OR.

* * *

"Where is she?!" Chloe burst through the door and noticed Clark pacing along the hospital corridor. "Clark! Where is she?! Is she alright?!" She ran into his arms and he hugged her, not really knowing what else to do.

"They're operating on her," she heard the answer. "They don't know anything yet."

"Oh my God…" Chloe sobbed in his arms. "She's my family! I can't lose her!"

"Chloe, I got her here as fast as I could," Clark assured his girlfriend when pulling away and holding her at his arms' length. "Now all is in the doctor's hands. But don't worry, Lois is a fighter. She'll get out of it."

"Who did this to her?" Chloe asked.

One look at Clark's face was enough to know there was something dreadful he still needed to tell her.

"Clark?" she prompted. "What is it? Who shot Lois?"

"Chloe, you're not going to like this," Clark started.

"Just tell me!"

"Lois… she whispered the name to me before they took her and she lost consciousness, but…"

"Who is it? Did you call the police?"

"I did call them, but they don't believe me," Clark answered and fell into a chair heavily.

"Why?" Chloe did not understand a thing and she sat in a chair right next to him. "Why didn't they believe? Clark?"

"Lois told me… Lex did it," Clark finally said it because there was really no other way to do it. It would hurt and he could not do anything about it.

As he suspected, Chloe's face changed. Now she was shocked, then devastated, then furious.

"Lex?" she asked, not really believing. "But… but…"

She remembered Lex, she knew him. Or she thought she did, something told her.

Lex saving her life. Lex befriending her that summer when she had been in hiding. Lex caring about her.

Lex betraying Clark.

Lex saving her life again when she had been attacked by Lana the vampire.

How could one person have so many faces? In which could she believe? What was just an act and what was true?

She felt Clark's arms going around her and she let him embrace her again. Her heart was broken even more now.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Why did he do it?" Chloe asked. "Why… I'll kill him! How can he be my friend and then… then just shoots my cousin? She's my family! She's like a sister to me!"

"Chloe, please, calm down," Clark told her and held her tighter because she wanted to jump out of the chair and run to confront Lex. And he could not let that happen. "You can't go to him. I won't let you. We don't know what he's capable of. We don't know him anymore. I won't let you just go over there and get hurt. I won't lose you, do you understand?!"

She just nodded, still in shock and grief.

"Why the police didn't believe you?" she finally asked.

"Because it's Lex Luthor. He has a strong alibi. I know it's fake, but there's nothing we can do. Without Lois's testimony we can't touch him."

"She'll be fine," Chloe said, doing her best to believe it. "She'll be fine and she'll tell them who shot her. Lex will go down. No one hurts my cousin and gets away with it. _No one_."

"I'm sorry, you're here for Lois Lane?" they suddenly heard the doctor's voice.

"Yes! I'm her cousin. How is she?" Chloe got up immediately, facing the doctor, counting on a good news. "Can I see her?"

"And you are?"

"Chloe Sullivan."

Clark stood right by her side, offering her support while draping his arm around her.

"Miss Sullivan, we did everything we could, but she did not make it. I am sorry. The bullet grazed her heart and it ruptured."

"Would she have made it if I'd got her here sooner?" Clark asked, praying for the answer he wanted to hear. The last thing he wanted was to live with guilt that he had not found Chloe's cousin sooner.

"No, I'm afraid not. The wound seemed to be fatal, but we still fought for her. I am really sorry for your lost."

Chloe did not hear a word anymore. She burst into tears again, not knowing what to do, how to go on without Lois.

Clark could only hold her tight in his arms. His heart was aching for her too. He so wished he could have done something for her to ease that pain.

In that very moment, something came to his mind.

"Clark! Chloe!" Mr. and Mrs. Kent got to them. "Oh, god. Chloe, we're so sorry…"

Now they stood there, all together, embracing Chloe, like one big family.

Still, one person was missing.

* * *

"Jor-El!" Clark shouted to his machine of a father in the Fortress. "You told me that a person I love would die! Was it Lois?!" He did not love Lois, but through Chloe she was family. And Chloe's suffering made him feel like he had lost someone close too.

"Kal-El, you were told this would happen," Jor-El's bodiless and calm voice spoke.

"But I didn't love her! Why her?!"

"You are one with the person you have chosen to spend your life it. At least Kryptonian tradition says so. Lois Lane was Chloe Sullivan's family, that made her your family too."

"That's bullshit and you know it!"

"Kal-El, I do not understand your frustration. You were told this would happen. You agreed to it."

"You left me no choice! You should've let me die then!"

"Then there would have been no Smallville. More people would have died, both in the past and in the future. Kal-El, your destiny is much greater than you can even imagine. What is one mortal life compared to yours?"

"Everything! Those are people I love and care about!"

"There is no coming back, Kal-El."

* * *

Jonathan Kent won the election, but none of them could truly show any enthusiasm about it. They were all grieving.

Clark did not know what to do or how to tell Chloe the truth. He knew he could not lie to her, but he was afraid she would hate him forever and he would lose her, therefore the ominous words that he would lose someone he loved would come true eventually.

He barely stopped Chloe for going against Lex. He convinced her they should wait until they would have something solid on him. Lex had proven to them that he had become his own father, so it should not take long until he did something equally terrible they could prosecute him for.

While Jonathan Kent was giving his wining speech that was about his campaign manager, Lois Lane, Clark walked over to Chloe.

She was standing on the back by the door, clearly not listening to Mr. Kent talking about Lois. It was too much for her. She would start crying all over again.

"Chloe," Clark said, feeling something heavy dropping in his stomach. He had to be honest with her, but how could he tell her that it was equally his fault as Lex's? "Chloe, there's something I need to tell you."

"Lois died because Jor-El said somebody would, didn't she?" Chloe asked to Clark's astonishment.

"Chloe, I…"

"I don't blame you, Clark. It's not your fault."

"But… Chloe, how could it not be?" He wanted nothing more for Chloe than to forgive him, but now he could not understand why she had done so.

"If you need to blame someone, blame Lex," she told him. "He was the one to pull the trigger. Blame Jor-El, he was the one to make decisions for you. But do not dare blaming yourself," Chloe said, looking intensely into his eyes and taking his hands. "Clark, I love you and I know you. You would never let my cousin die. You were the one who gave her a chance when you took her to that hospital."

"But it's still my fault. I did this. I came to this planet, causing the meteor shower…"

"The meteor shower would have happened anyway," Chloe interrupted him. "Don't look at me like that. I did my homework. I want you to stop blaming yourself for things that others did! I did my research. The meteor shower occurred because Krypton exploded, you just caught a ride in it, so unless you tell me you blew it up while being freshly born, there's nothing of your fault in this. There never was in anything."

"How do you do this?" he asked in awe. "How can you be so strong?"

"I try. And I have you. Without you I would've been gone or broken now, Clark. I miss Lois, I will always miss her. I loved her as a sister. But there is nothing I can do. I can only be the best reporter there is and someday, dig up something on Lex that would incriminate him. That's it."

"I love you so much, Chloe Sullivan," Clark confessed, his voice strained because of the emotions and he took her into his arms.

He remembered Jor-El's voice. When he had been in the Fortress he was too blinded by grief to listen, but now he did remember. He chose Chloe to spend his life with. In Kryptonian culture it meant becoming one forever. He never wanted to lose her. He would not let that happen. She was all he had dear beside his parents. She was his light and beacon. His job from now on was to protect her.

* * *

**AN **Ok, I guess I owe you some note after this life-changing chapter.

I knew when I started writing this that I wanted to transform the show into Chlark show. In order to do that I needed Clark to not feel so obsessed about Lana and I needed Lois to die. Why? That one you will probably figure out on your own, and it not, I will not tell you because I want to have a few more surprises and twists in my sleeve.

To be honest, I thought of writing about Reckoning in a way that Chloe would confront Lex and she would be the one to die on that route and then Clark would come back in time, losing his father in the process. Then it occurred to me that it would be innovative to explore Jonathan's character a little bit further, therefore I decided to make Lois the Reckoning's reaping and let Jonathan live. I hope you like how I approach it.


	16. Chapter 16

**Part 16**

It was as cold as the ground Chloe was burying Lois into. Snow had just fallen down, covering the earth with a white blanket. Chloe would prefer rain to this frozen atmosphere. It was always raining when somebody had a funeral in the movie. Rain purified things, rain was a new start and most of all, rain was associated with tears. What surrounded Chloe right now was beautiful. Frozen but nonetheless beautiful. And it was hurting her even more because she could not stop imaging herself and Lois right now. If she had been alive, they would have been enjoying themselves outside. They would have celebrated Clark's father's election and they would have made a snowman just like they had been making it in the past.

It was all gone now. Dead. Buried.

And Chloe did not really know how to handle it. How to go on.

She had already lost her mother. Now it was time for her to lose her cousin that was like a sister to her.

Then there were Clark's broad arms around her, trying to give her some comfort, trying to soothe her pain. She knew he was hurting too and he hated himself for not being able to take the pain away from her, but that was just how life worked.

When the ceremony was over, she noticed someone standing in the distance and the sight of him made her furious. White rage hit her and before she knew it, she was walking toward him.

"How dare you show up in here?!" she screamed at him. "Do you think I don't know what happened?! You killed my cousin!"

"Chloe, the grief is making you delusional," Lex answered her coldly. "I came here simply to pay my respect. After all, we used to be friends, didn't we?"

He had the audacity to stand there and lie right into her face!

"You bastard!"

"I did not kill Lois."

"I have a newsflash for you! Clark was there! He found her on time for her to tell him who did this to her! And it was you, Lex! You! You! You!"

"Of course you would believe Clark. He hates me and now he has a reason to alienate you to me forever, Chloe."

She could not believe he just lied to her like that.

She still needed to deal with the fact that he killed one of the most precious people to her and she could not put him behind bars because there was no evidence. Now he just stood there, trying to make her look like she was crazy. Like she did not know the truth.

And this hit her ten times stronger. Nearly leveled her. It was like she lost the ground from beneath her feet and kept on falling into a bottomless pit.

"Open your eyes, Chloe," Lex kept on talking. "You've been waiting for Clark all this time and finally, he graced you with his attention. How long it's been, Chloe? How many women were there before you?"

Chloe just raised her hand and slapped Lex across his cheek, leaving a red mark.

In that very moment Clark went over to them.

"Is everything all right?" he asked, but Chloe knew he must have heard everything. He held a protective arm around her. "Lex, I do not think you're welcome here. Not anymore."

"Don't you feel so safe," Chloe hissed in Lex's direction. "I will find something on you even if I have to look for the rest of my life. You killed my cousin and you will not get away with it."

"He did what now?" Suddenly, there was a fourth party to their little gathering and it was Lana. Chloe and Clark had not seen her since the 'vampire incident'. "Chloe, how can you accuse Lex of doing something like this? He would not kill anyone! I know him! I am really sorry your cousin died, but your grief really does make you delusional. Lex is a wonderful man."

"You little…" Chloe started but in the same time Clark decided it was enough and he gently nudged her back to Lois's grave.

"It's not worth it, Chloe," he whispered to her in a strained voice and she could tell it was killing him to watch her suffer like this. "We'll get him when the time comes. Lex will eventually slip, you'll see."

* * *

"I'm sorry, Lex. Everyone in this town seems to keep blaming you for everything that goes wrong," Lana said when Lex drove her back to her dorm.

"It's all right. I got used to it."

"This is not a way to live," she told him in a voice that was indicating she felt sorry for him. "I wish I could make it all go away." She looked at him.

"You do," Lex confessed to her astonishment when looking her deep in her eye. "Lana…" he said her name but then stopped. Instead he put his hand to her cheek and she leaned into it, closing her eyes. When she opened them he was so close that he finally kissed her.

Lana reciprocated the kiss but did not let them go any further. She did not seem to be ready for that just yet.

She smiled to him and said her goodbye.

Lex was watching after her for a long time before he drove away.

* * *

Chloe was soaking in a hot bath, trying to wash all those bad memories away, trying to relax a little, but it did not seem to be working.

"Are you feeling better?" Clark walked inside with two glasses of wine. "Want some?"

"Sure," she said and took the glass, sipping her wine slowly.

He perched on the edge of the bathtub.

"Will you go in with me?" she suggested after a few silent seconds.

Clark did not say anything, he just stood up and stripped off his clothes. Then he was getting inside the tub. Chloe situated herself between his legs, her back propped against his chest.

"Would you make love to me, Clark? I need to forget all that happened today. I just want you here. I always want you."

He still did not say anything. Instead he raised his hands and covered her breasts, working on them until her nipples peaked, then he slid his right hand down her stomach to stroke her intimate flesh and his lips were kissing the back of her neck.

Soon she felt his erection pressing against her back so she turned around and took him inside her.

* * *

Chloe eventually got her wish to be distracted and to forget about her cousin's death, but it just got her into serious trouble.

Clark was on the farm and she was taking a shower in her apartment when the lightning struck and the lights went off. That was when she was possessed by a ghost. A ghost of a girl who had been murdered in this building and hidden in the wall.

The ghost made her cut her wrists. Poor Clark thought she lost it. She could not stand the look on his face when he saw what she had done to herself. He took her to a hospital and they quickly admitted her to a psycho ward because she was mumbling over and over about the girl in the wall.

"Clark, you need to believe me! This is real! Clark, I'm begging you, don't let them keep me here! I don't want to become my mum! I don't want that! I want to come back home!"

Clark was not sure if there really was a ghost or if Chloe really lost it and it was killing him inside. He could not stand watching her suffer. She had lost her cousin who was like a sister to her recently and with the mental problems that the women in Chloe's family had had it was only natural for Chloe to go crazy.

Only he refuse to believe it. Chloe was the strongest person he had ever known. She was his one true love and he wanted to spend his life with her. She was his soul mate, his _everything_. He would not let her stay in that hospital even a minute longer. He took a leap of fate and brought her home. That turned out to be a good decision because there really was a body in the wall.

Now when the horror was finally over, the killer caught and the dead girl had gotten some peace, Clark and Chloe were lying in bed. He held her in his arms, kept on stroking her hair and was becoming imbued with her, with this moment.

"You have no idea how much it means to me that you believed me," she confessed.

"How could I not? You're the love of my life, Chloe, and I would do anything for you. I would never let you go to any psych ward even if you needed to."

"Really?" She looked up into his eyes.

"Really. I love you too much to lose you. For better and worse. We are together."

"You know… Lex said something…"

"About you being the last choice after all the girls I supposedly slept with?" Clark asked, sighing heavily. "Chloe, you know well there was not a girl before you."

"Maybe not intimately, but…"

"Lex wanted to hurt you and he succeeded. You can't let people get to you like that. You know best what I feel," Clark assured her, kissing her on the lips. Then he added, "You were always the one, I was just too blind and stupid to see it when I was a teenager. I see it now and I do not intend on letting you go. I won't lose you."

"You better not," she said, smiling to him and kissing him again, this time longer and deeper until she straddled him and grazed herself against him.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear when he was taking her clothes off.

"I love you too," the answer came.

* * *

**AN **I am just about to dig into the synopsis of season six to figure out how to present it here and I came up with a brilliant and shocking idea. Oh, it will be so awesome!


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